Charlton Heston Dies

"...from my cold, dead hands." Charlton Heston, 1997 NRA Nat'l Convention

Growing up, no movie star has ever had more popularity in my home than Charlton Heston. Mom only had to mention "her boyfriend" and we all knew who she was talking about.

Charlton Heston was a man's man. he was an actor that could go from tought to tender and back to tough in an instant, and you believed him.

He's the only man, other than my father, that my mother ever loved.

He championed many causes, including marching in Washington D.C. for civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr., but his legacy was still yet to come.

Charlton Heston was President of the NRA from 1998 until 2002, when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

On the subject of his Alzheimer's, Heston, who fended off prostate cancer three years before, insists he was "neither giving up nor giving in...For now, I'm not changing anything. I'll insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you'll know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.

"I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure. Please feel no sympathy for me. I don't. I just may be a little less accessible to you, despite my wishes.

"I also want you to know that I'm grateful beyond measure. My life has been blessed with good fortune."

On the web:

Movie Giant Charlton Heston Dies
Charlton Heston
Joal Ryan, eonline
April 5, 2008

Charlton Heston did not do small.

Heston, the Oscar-winning actor who, as the biggest male star of Hollywood's outsize epic era of the 1950s and 1960s, parted the Red Sea, raced chariots and battled gorilla tyranny, died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home.

He was 84, his family said. He had been battling Alzheimer's disease for years.

In a statement, Heston's family acknowledged that their patriarch was viewed as larger than life and maintained that, offscreen, he was no less imposing.

"We knew him as an adoring husband, a kind and devoted father, and a gentle grandfather, with an infectious sense of humor," the statement said. "He served these far greater roles with tremendous faith, courage and dignity. He loved deeply, and he was deeply loved." (click here for the rest of the article)

Lastly, click here to see a slides how of Charlton Heston pics on Yahoo.