Charlton Heston

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Charlton Heston (1997)

Charlton Heston , a native of John Charles Carter , (born October 4, 1923 in Evanston , Illinois , † April 5, 2008 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American actor and civil rights activist . From 1998 to 2003 he was President of the National Rifle Association . He became known through leading roles in various monumental films popular in the 1950s and 1960s . He was awarded an Oscar for his title role as Ben Hur in the classic 1959 film of the same name . Heston remained a sought-after actor well into old age. He had to end his career as a result of Alzheimer's disease.

Life

childhood

He was called "Chuck" as a child, the short form of his middle name Charles. When his parents divorced - Chuck was ten years old - he took his stepfather's family name, Chester Heston (owner of a sawmill), and his mother's maiden name, Charlton, as his first name.

Acting career

Charlton Heston (1963)

He completed his school education at the Stolp Grammar School in his hometown before he discovered his talent for acting at the New Trier High School in Winnetka . He studied drama at Northwestern University , where he also for the first time in the lead role in a film project, a 16-mm - Silent film by students on Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt (1941), participated. An adaptation by Julius Caesar (1949) followed in 1949. Both films were directed by Heston's fellow student David Bradley.

Heston, who also worked for the radio, served in the Air Force for three years during World War II . He later worked as a model in New York , where he met his future wife Lydia Clarke , who made a living with this profession. After the marriage, the couple moved to North Carolina , where Heston ran his own theater in Asheville , in which he was also on stage.

In 1947 he returned to New York to make his Broadway debut in Katharine Cornell's revival of the Shakespearean tragedy Antonius and Cleopatra . He became known to a broad US audience through his interpretations of novel and theater heroes in individual episodes (1949–1952) of the successful television series Studio One , including Heathcliff from Sturmhöhe (1950) and the title character from Macbeth (1951).

Now Hollywood had also noticed the actor. William Dieterle gave Heston the lead role in his film noir Stadt im Dunkel (1950). In it he played a war returnees who, as a gambler and bookmaker, becomes the target of a psychopathic killer. Then Heston was hired by director Cecil B. DeMille for the Oscar-winning circus film The Greatest Show in the World (1952). Four years later, DeMille gave him the role of Moses in the monumental film The Ten Commandments (1956), with which Heston made his final breakthrough in Hollywood. For this role he also received his first Golden Globe Award nomination .

The 1.91 meter tall actor with the athletic physique and the imposing chest was considered the ideal cast for Hollywood's monumental films of the 1950s and 1960s, in which he embodied larger-than-life characters. He gave heroes a face in all genres; he played, among others, the Spanish national hero El Cid in El Cid (1961), John the Baptist in The Greatest Story of All Time (1965) or Michelangelo in Michelangelo - Inferno and Ecstasy (1965). His greatest success was the title role in William Wyler's Ben Hur (1959), the most lavish film project of the 1950s. Heston won the Academy Award for Best Actor for this role .

Heston as President of the American Film Institute in January 1981

When the wave of monumental films ended in the mid-1960s, Heston switched to the science fiction genre and repeatedly played men who have to fight for their survival in apocalyptic worlds ( Planet of the Apes , 1968; Omega-Mann , 1971; ... year 2022 ... who survive want , 1973). Until the late 1970s he remained a sought-after actor for heroic men who prove themselves in extreme situations, and was for example the leading actor in disaster films such as Airport '75 - Giants in the Sky (1974), Earthquake (1974), Two Minutes Warning (1976 ) or U-Boot in Not (1978) popular.

In 1973 he played the scheming Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (as was later also in its sequel). From the 1980s onwards, due to his age, there were hardly any suitable roles for him. In the middle of the decade, TV mogul Aaron Spelling hired the Hollywood actor for the new series The Empire - The Colbys , an offshoot of the popular TV series The Denver Clan . Heston took the lead after Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster canceled.

In 2003, Heston was seen in Egidio Eronicos drama My Father, Rua Alguem 5555 at the side of Thomas Kretschmann in his last film role, in which he played the notorious concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele . Shortly before that, in August 2002, Heston had informed the public about his Alzheimer's disease. Also in 2003, the animated film Ben Hur, for which he spoke the title role, was released in US cinemas.

During his career, Heston has appeared in over 120 film and television roles.

Sporadically he also appeared as a director. He directed and also took on leading roles in Antonius and Cleopatra (1972, also screenplay), the adventure film Goldfieber (1982) and the television adaptation of Robert Bolt's successful play A Man for All Seasons (1988).

From 1965 to 1971, Heston was President of the Screen Actors Guild , the American actors' union, and he also served as President of the American Film Institute . As a stage actor, he was still in 1985 in Herman Wouk's The Mutiny on the Caine in London 's Queen's Theater, with which he made his debut on the English stage. In 1988 he directed a Chinese version of Wouk's novel at the Beijing People's Theater. In the audio book series Giants of Philosophy produced in 1990 , Heston took on the role of the narrator.

Political positions

Heston 1963 with Sidney Poitier (left) and Harry Belafonte (center) during the Civil Rights March

Heston was considered politically liberal in the USA . He worked with Martin Luther King , helped black actors in Hollywood , took part in strikes at places that did not accept black guests, and led the participants in King's 1963 protest march, which led to civil rights being enshrined in law in 1964. Heston always spoke out for equality and against racism. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, he called for restrictive gun laws. Later, however, Heston also represented conservative Republican positions. For example, he advocated the unrestricted right to gun possession , which is a controversial contemporary interpretation of the second amendment to the United States Constitution .

Heston presented the text of the controversial lyrics of Cop Killer to a Time Warner shareholders meeting in 1992 . He saw a direct link between the song and the 1992 Los Angeles riots . The US rapper Ice-T then lost his contract with the media group.

Heston publicly presented himself as a staunch opponent of political correctness .

After Heston had become vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in 1997 , he took over the office of president there in 1998. Heston was widely criticized for his commitment to the NRA. Filmmaker Michael Moore portrayed Heston in his 2002 film Bowling for Columbine as disrespectful in connection with US school massacres. Moore alleged that, despite, or perhaps because of, the previous school massacre in Littleton , Heston held an NRA meeting in a nearby town a short time later Denver held. This was the annual general meeting of the NRA, whose program was shortened by the festivities, but according to the NRA it could not be postponed to a later date due to the shortness of the time and therefore for legal reasons.

Moore's handling of Heston was subsequently heavily criticized; He was accused of having already known about Heston's Alzheimer's disease at the time of the interview and deliberately putting it into a psychological tightness. Moore confirmed in an interview with Die Zeit that he deliberately wanted to provoke a scandal , and named Heston as an "old, mentally retarded man with racist views", even though he campaigned for more rights for African Americans throughout his life . It was also repeatedly criticized that Moore portrayed Heston as the perpetrator of the school massacre and that he made direct accusations - at the same time, Heston was praised for his level-headedness and friendliness in the interview, which he refused to abandon even after the most serious allegations on the part of his interview partner.

family

Since March 17, 1944, Heston was married to Lydia Clarke (1923-2018). The couple had two children, the son Fraser Clarke Heston (born February 12, 1955) and the adopted daughter Holly Ann Heston Rochell (born August 2, 1961). Fraser Clarke Heston is a director, producer, and screenwriter in the film business.

Heston died in April 2008 in the presence of his wife Lydia at his Beverly Hills home.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Heston received two Oscars : in 1960 for his leading role in the film Ben Hur and in 1977 for his humanitarian commitment the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award , an honorary Oscar. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1620 Vine Street). On July 23, 2003, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush .

Further awards or nominations:

German dubbing voices (selection)

In the German dubbing of his films, Heston was mostly spoken by either Ernst Wilhelm Borchert (11 times) or Helmo Kindermann (10 times). Alternatively, the following speakers were also used:

literature

  • Jenna Eatough, Hans Reinhardt, Andrea Rennschmid: Charlton Heston: A bio and filmography  specialist publisher for film literature, Landshut 2016, ISBN 978-3-943127-06-5 .
  • Charlton Heston: In the Arena. To Autobiography. Simon & Schuster, New York 1995, ISBN 1-57297-267-X .
  • Hans Reinhardt and Andrea Rennschmidt: Charlton Heston. His cinematic works. Weber, Landshut (around 1993), ISBN 3-9802987-1-X .
  • Charlton Heston and Hollis Alpert : The Actor's Life. Pocket Books, New York 1979, ISBN 0-671-83016-3 .
  • Charlton Heston: Beijing Diary. Simon and Schuster, New York 1990, ISBN 0-671-68706-9 .
  • Charlton Heston: To Be a Man. Letters to My Grandson. Simon & Schuster, New York 1997, ISBN 0-684-84116-9 .
  • Charlton Heston: Charlton Heston Presents the Bible. GT Publishing, New York 1997, ISBN 1-57719-270-2 .
  • Charlton Heston and Jean-Pierre Isbouts : Charlton Heston's Hollywood. 50 Years in American Film. GT Publishing, New York 1998, ISBN 1-57719-357-1 .
  • Marc Eliot: Charlton Heston: Hollywood's last icon , New York, NY: Dey St., An Imprint of William Morrow, 2017, ISBN 978-0-06-242043-5

Web links

Commons : Charlton Heston  - collection of images

General

Interviews

Obituaries

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oscar-winning actor played larger-than-life figures . In: Los Angeles Times . April 6, 2008.
  2. ↑ a b cf. Entry in: International Biographical Archive 28/1999 of July 5, 1999.
  3. ↑ cf. Bob Thomas: Hollywood legend, conservative activist Charlton Heston dead at 84; former NRA president. In: The Associated Press. April 6, 2008, 5:49 AM GMT.
  4. ↑ cf. Benedict Nightingale: Stage View: Yankee Products on the London Stage. In: The New York Times . June 9, 1985, Section 2, page 5, Column 1, Arts and Leisure Desk.
  5. ↑ cf. Vernon Scott: Heston to make Beijing debut. In: United Press International. August 11, 1988.
  6. ^ "Political correctness is tyranny with manners". Heston Champions Second Amendment . CBS News March 29, 2000
  7. ↑ His ammunition is powerful . Berliner Zeitung February 13, 1999
  8. ↑ cnn.com .
  9. ↑ Interview: Panzerfaust under the pillow? No problem . In: The time . November 21, 2002, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed April 1, 2018]).
  10. ↑ liligans: Michael Moore's shameful ambush of Charlton Heston. In: LiliGans.com. April 10, 2008, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  11. ^ Charlton Heston's Biography. Retrieved February 19, 2010 .
  12. ↑ [Charlton Heston https://www.synchronkartei.de/darsteller/196 ] in the German synchronous index
personal data
SURNAME Heston, Charlton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Carter, John Charlton (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and president of the National Rifle Association
DATE OF BIRTH 4th October 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Evanston , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 2008
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States