Charlton Heston

I buzzed through another bio of a film celebrity–Charlton Heston by Marc Eliot.  As usual with Mr. Eliot’s bios, this is one is very readable, very informative and very balanced.  Heston unfortunately got pegged as some far-right person who was a gun nut because of his links with the National Rifle Association.  He joined that group because of his boyhood experiences hunting as a child in rural Michigan.  While Heston entered Hollywood when it was relatively conservative, he actually was a Democrat most of his life, but changed when Hollywood began going complete whacko extreme left-wing radical.  (Conservatives are always referred to be the traditional media as far-right extremists, so I am returning the favor in regard to anyone who is left of center.)  Heston was an early civil rights supporter, so pigeon-holing him isn’t very accurate.

Heston was never one of my favorite actors, he was kind of one-dimensional, he appeared in a few blockbusters and a number of duds.  But we, the audience, will always have Planet of the Apes.  Because of his perceived political views, he was essentially blacklisted in mid-career.  I always admire this in a famous person–he was a true family man; he stayed married to the same person, through some difficult times, and was a good father, according to his two children.  He was generous to friends and just seems like a decent human being.

In addition to his film career, Heston was a strong actors union proponent, being its president for some time, although he eventually ran into friction about issues of encouraging production of movies in the US by lowering costs of production.  He was very involved in work to save older films and promote the value of Hollywood.  He pushed for federal funding of the arts, with which I strongly disagree.   My mission to keep reading bios continues, interrupted by occasional science, history, classic and other books, all of which I will report on.