Charlton Heston, who won a best actor Oscar for his starring role in the epic Ben Hur has died, a spokesman for the star's family has said.
Heston died on Saturday 6th April at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia, whom he married in 1944, at his side.
Whether starring as Judah Ben Hur, Michelangelo or Moses, Charlton Heston personified the larger-than-life heroes of the Hollywood epic.
Charlton Heston's life story reads like a film script. From the backwoods of Michigan, he became one of the world's most famous faces, a high-profile campaigner for Civil Rights and an unapologetic president of America's National Rifle Association.
He was born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Illinois.
By his own admission "shy, skinny, short and pimply", he studied acting before serving for three years in the US Air Force.
In 1952, after working on Broadway, Heston starred as the ringmaster in the movie, The Greatest Show on Earth. Four years later, he appeared as Moses in The Ten Commandments, the role which would define his career.
Physically imposing at six foot four, with granite-hewn features and a deep, sonorous voice, he radiated screen presence.
No role was too big for Heston. In The Greatest Story Ever Told, he was John the Baptist; he played El Cid, along with Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy and General Gordon in Khartoum.
And, in 1959, he won an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Ben Hur.
The science fiction film, Planet of the Apes, proved a big commercial success in the late 1960s, and Heston almost became a fixture in 1970s disaster movies like Earthquake and Skyjacked.
And his big-screen performance in the environmentally-tinged sci-fi thriller, Soylent Green, brought him cult status among a younger audience.
The 1980s saw a rare foray onto television, as Jason Colby in The Colbys.
But, later in his career, Heston turned increasingly back to the stage
On 9 August 2002, he issued a statement, announcing that his doctors had diagnosed "a neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer's disease".
Charlton Heston, along with many critics, felt his best film performance was as the shy, awkward ranch hand in Will Penny.
And while Charlton Heston will always be identified with heroes who lived before the birth of his country, it was perhaps the American pioneer who was closest to his heart.
A passing of a true Hollywood legend, Charlton Heston will be sadly missed.
Heston died on Saturday 6th April at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia, whom he married in 1944, at his side.
Whether starring as Judah Ben Hur, Michelangelo or Moses, Charlton Heston personified the larger-than-life heroes of the Hollywood epic.
Charlton Heston's life story reads like a film script. From the backwoods of Michigan, he became one of the world's most famous faces, a high-profile campaigner for Civil Rights and an unapologetic president of America's National Rifle Association.
He was born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Illinois.
By his own admission "shy, skinny, short and pimply", he studied acting before serving for three years in the US Air Force.
In 1952, after working on Broadway, Heston starred as the ringmaster in the movie, The Greatest Show on Earth. Four years later, he appeared as Moses in The Ten Commandments, the role which would define his career.
Physically imposing at six foot four, with granite-hewn features and a deep, sonorous voice, he radiated screen presence.
No role was too big for Heston. In The Greatest Story Ever Told, he was John the Baptist; he played El Cid, along with Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy and General Gordon in Khartoum.
And, in 1959, he won an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Ben Hur.
The science fiction film, Planet of the Apes, proved a big commercial success in the late 1960s, and Heston almost became a fixture in 1970s disaster movies like Earthquake and Skyjacked.
And his big-screen performance in the environmentally-tinged sci-fi thriller, Soylent Green, brought him cult status among a younger audience.
The 1980s saw a rare foray onto television, as Jason Colby in The Colbys.
But, later in his career, Heston turned increasingly back to the stage
On 9 August 2002, he issued a statement, announcing that his doctors had diagnosed "a neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer's disease".
Charlton Heston, along with many critics, felt his best film performance was as the shy, awkward ranch hand in Will Penny.
And while Charlton Heston will always be identified with heroes who lived before the birth of his country, it was perhaps the American pioneer who was closest to his heart.
A passing of a true Hollywood legend, Charlton Heston will be sadly missed.
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