Charlton Heston: 1923-2008

Late in the evening of April 5, the world lost one of its biggest actors and most well-known cultural icons when Charlton Heston died at his home in Beverly Hills at the age of 84. His family has declined to publicize the cause of death, but Heston was diagnosed with neurological symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease and had undergone treatment for prostate cancer in 1999.

Heston was known for his strong, squared-jawed portrayals of tough men in such iconic films as Soylent Green (1973), Planet of the Apes (1968) and Ben Hur (1959), the latter of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. His other film accomplishments included playing historical figure Marc Antony in three separate productions by three separate directors (one being himself), starring in a Dynasty spinoff and inspiring the Will Smith blockbuster I Am Legend (2007), based on his performance as Robert Neville in The Omega Man (1971) (which was, in turn, based on the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend).

But Heston will probably be best known to Paste’s younger readers for two things. First, as a righteous, stentorian Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), which airs annually around Easter, and secondly, as the president and most recognizable face of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003 (the same year he retired from acting). Heston’s image from the annual NRA Convention in 2000—during which he made the oft-quoted statement that gun control advocates would only get his weapons “from [his] cold, dead hands” —was burned into American consciousness upon the release of Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine (2002), in which an unsympathetic Heston was interviewed by Moore.

But for all the controversy that surrounded his personal politics, Charlton Heston will be remembered for his larger-than-life persona and the hard work he put into his movies.

Clip: Charlton Heston, in his unforgettable role as George Taylor in Planet of the Apes