Charlton Heston
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Charlton Heston was an American actor renowned for his towering screen presence and roles in some of Hollywood’s most famous epics. Born John Charles Carter on October 4, 1923, in Illinois, he discovered his passion for acting in school, studied drama at Northwestern University, and began his career on stage and in live television before transitioning to film. He first gained major attention in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth and then became an international star with his performances as Moses in The Ten Commandments and Judah Ben‑Hur in Ben‑Hur, the latter earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Heston went on to headline a wide range of big‑budget films, including El Cid, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Planet of the Apes, and The Omega Man, establishing himself as one of the most recognizable leading men of mid‑20th‑century cinema. Beyond acting, he was active in public life, supporting civil rights in the 1960s and later becoming a prominent conservative voice and president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003. He retired from public life after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2002 and died on April 5, 2008, in Beverly Hills, California, leaving behind a legacy as both a cinematic icon and a polarizing political figure.
Known for
Credits
Hercules (1997)
as Narrator (voice)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
as Moses
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
as Self - NRA President
Armageddon (1998)
as Narration (voice)
Ben-Hur (1959)
as Judah Ben-Hur
Planet of the Apes (1968)
as George Taylor
Planet of the Apes (2001)
as Zaius (uncredited)
True Lies (1994)
as Spencer Trilby
Tombstone (1993)
as Henry Hooker
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
as Jackson Harglow
Midway (1976)
as Capt. Matthew Garth
Soylent Green (1973)
as Detective Robert Thorn
Any Given Sunday (1999)
as AFFA Football Commissioner
Cats & Dogs (2001)
as The Mastiff (voice)
Earthquake (1974)
as Stewart Graff
Planet of the Apes Test Reel (1966)
as Thomas
Airport 1975 (1974)
as Alan Murdock
El Cid (1961)
as El Cid Rodrigo de Vivar
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
as Taylor
Touch of Evil (1958)
as Ramon Miguel Vargas
55 Days at Peking (1963)
as Maj. Matt Lewis
The Three Musketeers (1973)
as Cardinal Richelieu
Treasure Island (1990)
as Long John Silver
The Big Country (1958)
as Steve Leech
Hamlet (1996)
as Player King
Wayne's World 2 (1993)
as Good Actor
Will Penny (1967)
as Will Penny
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
as John the Baptist
The Order (2001)
as Professor Finley
The Savage (1952)
as James 'Jim' Aherne Jr. / War Bonnet
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
as Self (archive footage)
The Omega Man (1971)
as Robert Neville
The Awakening (1980)
as Matthew Corbeck
The Last Hard Men (1976)
as Sam Burgade
Solar Crisis (1992)
as Adm. "Skeet" Kelso
The Four Musketeers (1974)
as Cardinal Richelieu
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
as Brad Braden
The Mountain Men (1980)
as Bill Tyler
The Buccaneer (1958)
as Gen. Andrew Jackson
Khartoum (1966)
as Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon
The Hawaiians (1970)
as Whip Hoxworth
Cults: Saying No Under Pressure (1991)
as Narrator
Julius Caesar (1970)
as Marc Antony
The Prince and the Pauper (1977)
as Henry VIII
Major Dundee (1965)
as Major Amos Charles Dundee
The Legacy of Malthus (1994)
as Self (Population Institute, 1993) (archive footage)
The Naked Jungle (1954)
as Christopher Leiningen
The Five Cities of June (1963)
as Narrator
Antony and Cleopatra (1972)
as Marc Antony
Ruby Gentry (1952)
as Boake Tackman
Pony Express (1953)
as Captain William Frank 'Buffalo Bill' Cody
The War Lord (1965)
as Chrysagon
Alaska (1996)
as Perry
Forever Hollywood (1999)
as Self
Gray Lady Down (1978)
as Captain Paul Blanchard
Three Violent People (1956)
as Colt Saunders
Hail Satan? (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
as Michelangelo
The Lord Protector (1996)
as Narrator (voice)
Town & Country (2001)
as Mr. Clayborne
Arrowhead (1953)
as Ed Bannon
The Far Horizons (1955)
as Lt. William Clark
Dark City (1950)
as Danny Haley
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004)
as Self (archive footage)
The President's Lady (1953)
as Andrew Jackson
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
as John Sands
Ben Hur (2003)
as Ben Hur (voice)
Yesterday's Tomorrows (1999)
as Self
Two-Minute Warning (1976)
as Capt. Peter Holly
Almost an Angel (1990)
as God
The Call of the Wild (1972)
as John Thornton
Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998)
as Self - 'Taylor'
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift (2010)
as (archive footage)
Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels (1996)
as Self
Number One (1969)
as Ron "Cat" Catlan
Diamond Head (1962)
as Richard 'King' Howland
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)
as Self – Interviewee
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: The Garden of Eden (2003)
as Self - Host
The Avenging Angel (1995)
as Brigham Young
Charlton Heston and Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey (2011)
as Self (archive footage)
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood (1987)
as Self
Three Lives (1953)
as Self
A Century of Cinema (1994)
as Self
Lucy Gallant (1955)
as Casey Cole
Counterpoint (1967)
as Lionel Evans
Last Party 2000 (2001)
as Self
Saturday Night Live: 15th Anniversary (1989)
as Self
Skyjacked (1972)
as Capt. Henry 'Hank' O'Hara
Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
Secret of the Incas (1954)
as Harry Steel
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line (1997)
as Self
Christmas in Hollywood (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Air Force One: The Planes and the Presidents (1991)
as Host and Narrator
I Am Richard Pryor (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Proud Men (1987)
as Charley MacLeod Sr.
Mother Lode (1982)
as Silas McGee / Ian McGee
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire (2014)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Television: The First Fifty Years (1999)
as Self
Spanish Western (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Original Sin (1989)
as Louis Mancini
Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994)
as Self
A Look at the World of 'Soylent Green' (1973)
as Self
Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968)
as Self
Edith Head: The Paramount Years (2002)
as Self (archive footage)
My Father (2003)
as Josef Mengele
Nairobi Affair (1984)
as Lee Cahill
Texas (1995)
as Narrator
The Special London Bridge Special (1972)
as Tennis Player
Airports (2025)
Actor
Gideon (1998)
as Addison Sinclair
Hollywood sul Tevere (2009)
Actor
A Man for All Seasons (1988)
as Sir Thomas More
Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232 (1992)
as Captain Al Haynes
The Private War of Major Benson (1955)
as Maj. Bernard R. 'Barney' Benson
AFI: 100 Years... 100 Movies... 10th Anniversary Edition (2007)
as Self (archive footage)
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western (1997)
as Self
Love in Hollywood (1996)
as Self
The Orson Welles Story (1982)
as Self
Peer Gynt (1941)
as Peer Gynt
Directed by William Wyler (1986)
as Self
The Making of The Ten Commandments (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Gary Cooper: The Face of a Hero (1998)
as Self
The Stars Salute the U.S. Olympic Team (1984)
as Self - Performer
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013)
as Self (archive footage)
Forbidden Area (1956)
as Col. Jesse Price
Children of the Civil Rights (2015)
as Self (archival footage)
The Taming of the Shrew (1950)
as Petruchio
Uncertain Verification (1965)
as (archive footage)
Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Daniel and the Lion's Den (2003)
as Self - Host
Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the Chinese Theatre Footprints (2000)
as Self
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons (1995)
as Self
Alaska: Spirit of the Wild (1998)
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Call from Space (1989)
as Alien (voice)
Noël (1992)
as Narrator
Bad for Each Other (1953)
as Dr. Tom Owen
Elizabeth the Queen (1968)
as Lord Essex
The Crucifer of Blood (1991)
as Sherlock Holmes
The Making of Midway (2001)
as Self
The Madding Crowd (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
The Making of 'Tombstone' (2002)
as Self
The Little Kidnappers (1990)
as James MacKenzie
Fun in the Big Country (1958)
as Self
Let Poland Be Poland (1982)
as Self - Co-Host
Barry Norman in Celebrity City (1982)
as Self
Energy: A National Issue (1977)
as Narrator (voice)
The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
as Captain Paul MacDougall / Benny the Snatch / Narrator
The Bible According to Hollywood (1994)
as Self
Symphony for the Spire (1992)
Actor
A Bolt of Lightning (1951)
as James Otis
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1986)
as Self
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (2003)
as Self - Host
Stars of Cabaret (1956)
as Self (archive footage)
Todos los nombres de Sara (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Jane Eyre (1949)
as Edward Rochester
America at the Movies (1976)
as Narrator
Charlton Heston: Radical to Right Wing (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Studio One: Wuthering Heights (1950)
as Heathcliff
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: Jonah and the Whale (2003)
as Self - Host
Julius Caesar (1950)
as Mark Antony
The Patriots (1963)
as Thomas Jefferson
Remembering Reagan at His Ranch (2004)
as Host
Planet of the Apes: A Milestone of Science Fiction (2024)
as Self (archive footage)
Bienvenido Mr. Heston (2016)
as Self (archive footage)
This Is Your Life: 30th Anniversary Special (1981)
as Self
With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film (1990)
as Self
The Last Man Alive: The Omega Man (1971)
as Self - Narrator
The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016)
as Self
The Gun Deadlock (2001)
as Self
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: Samson and Delilah (2003)
as Self - Host
Charlton Heston Presents the Bible (1997)
as Self - Narrator
Vietnam! Vietnam! (1971)
as Narrator (voice)
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil" (2019)
as (archive footage)
The Mystery of the Sphinx (1993)
as Narrator
A Night on Mount Edna (1990)
as Self
Charlton Heston Presents the Bible: Jesus of Nazareth (1993)
as Self - Host
De Madrid a la Luna (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Yul Brynner, the Magnificent (2020)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: David and Goliath (2003)
as Self - Host
Night of the Dragon (1965)
as Narrator
The Greatest All-Star Advertial of All Time (1963)
as Self
Private Screenings: Charlton Heston (1998)
as Self
While I Run This Race (1967)
as Narrator
Lasting Love (2003)
Actor
The Face of Evil: Reinhard Heydrich (2002)
as Narrator (voice)
Charlton Heston Presents The Bible: The Story of Moses (1993)
as Self - Host
Greatest Heroes and Legends: The Story of Moses (2008)
as Self - Host / Moses
Eclipse of Reason (1987)
as Narrator
The Mysterious Origins of Man (1996)
as Self - Host
Look at Life: The City's Built for Shooting (1963)
as Self
Andersonville Diaries (1996)
as Narrator
Charlton Heston Presents the Bible: Genesis (1997)
as Self - Host
Andrew Weyth, The Helga Pictures (1987)
as Self - Host