Charlton Heston
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Charlton Heston (October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor, renowned for his towering screen presence and roles in some of Hollywood’s most famous epics. Born John Charles Carter 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)
Armageddon (1998)
as Narration (voice)
True Lies (1994)
as Spencer Trilby
Tombstone (1993)
as Henry Hooker
Planet of the Apes (1968)
as George Taylor
Ben-Hur (1959)
as Judah Ben-Hur
The Ten Commandments (1956)
as Moses
Planet of the Apes (2001)
as Zaius (uncredited)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
as Jackson Harglow
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
as Taylor
Any Given Sunday (1999)
as AFFA Football Commissioner
Midway (1976)
as Capt. Matthew Garth
Cats & Dogs (2001)
as The Mastiff (voice)
Soylent Green (1973)
as Detective Robert Thorn
The Three Musketeers (1973)
as Cardinal Richelieu
Touch of Evil (1958)
as Ramon Miguel Vargas
The Omega Man (1971)
as Robert Neville
El Cid (1961)
as El Cid Rodrigo de Vivar
Wayne's World 2 (1993)
as Good Actor
Earthquake (1974)
as Stewart Graff
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
as Self - NRA President
The Big Country (1958)
as Steve Leech
The Four Musketeers (1974)
as Cardinal Richelieu
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
as John the Baptist
The Order (2001)
as Professor Finley
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
as Brad Braden
55 Days at Peking (1963)
as Maj. Matt Lewis
Treasure Island (1990)
as Long John Silver
Airport 1975 (1974)
as Alan Murdock
Will Penny (1967)
as Will Penny
Hamlet (1996)
as Player King
Major Dundee (1965)
as Major Amos Charles Dundee
The War Lord (1965)
as Chrysagon
The Prince and the Pauper (1977)
as Henry VIII
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
as Michelangelo
Mother Lode (1982)
as Silas McGee / Ian McGee
Three Violent People (1956)
as Colt Saunders
The Call of the Wild (1972)
as John Thornton
Pony Express (1953)
as Captain William Frank 'Buffalo Bill' Cody
Khartoum (1966)
as Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon
Almost an Angel (1990)
as God
The Naked Jungle (1954)
as Christopher Leiningen
Forever Hollywood (1999)
as Self
The Awakening (1980)
as Matthew Corbeck
The Buccaneer (1958)
as Gen. Andrew Jackson
Gray Lady Down (1978)
as Captain Paul Blanchard
Skyjacked (1972)
as Capt. Henry 'Hank' O'Hara
The Mountain Men (1980)
as Bill Tyler
Alaska (1996)
as Perry
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Saturday Night Live: 15th Anniversary (1989)
as Self
Counterpoint (1967)
as Lionel Evans
The Far Horizons (1955)
as Lt. William Clark
The Last Hard Men (1976)
as Sam Burgade
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
as Self (archive footage)
Town & Country (2001)
as Mr. Clayborne
Two-Minute Warning (1976)
as Capt. Peter Holly
Solar Crisis (1992)
as Adm. "Skeet" Kelso
Secret of the Incas (1954)
as Harry Steel
Julius Caesar (1970)
as Marc Antony
Texas (1995)
as Narrator
Ruby Gentry (1952)
as Boake Tackman
Dark City (1950)
as Danny Haley
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
as John Sands
The Hawaiians (1970)
as Whip Hoxworth
The Savage (1952)
as James 'Jim' Aherne Jr. / War Bonnet
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line (1997)
as Self
Arrowhead (1953)
as Ed Bannon
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire (2014)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift (2010)
as (archive footage)
Antony and Cleopatra (1972)
as Marc Antony
Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels (1996)
as Self
Hail Satan? (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013)
as Self (archive footage)
A Century of Cinema (1994)
as Self
Diamond Head (1962)
as Richard 'King' Howland
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood (1987)
as Self
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994)
as Self
I Am Richard Pryor (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232 (1992)
as Captain Al Haynes
The Lord Protector (1996)
as Narrator (voice)
Television: The First Fifty Years (1999)
as Self
Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998)
as Self - 'Taylor'
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004)
as Self (archive footage)
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)
as Self – Interviewee
Spanish Western (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western (1997)
as Self
Forbidden Area (1956)
as Col. Jesse Price
Airports (2025)
Actor
Last Party 2000 (2001)
as Self
AFI: 100 Years... 100 Movies... 10th Anniversary Edition (2007)
as Self (archive footage)
Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
The Avenging Angel (1995)
as Brigham Young
Directed by William Wyler (1986)
as Self
Yesterday's Tomorrows (1999)
as Self
The Making of 'Tombstone' (2002)
as Self
Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Bad for Each Other (1953)
as Dr. Tom Owen
The Little Kidnappers (1990)
as James MacKenzie
Lasting Love (2003)
Actor
Charlton Heston and Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey (2011)
as Self (archive footage)
The President's Lady (1953)
as Andrew Jackson
Hollywood sul Tevere (2009)
Actor
An All-Star Celebration Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. (1986)
Actor
Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968)
as Self
Lucy Gallant (1955)
as Casey Cole
Number One (1969)
as Ron "Cat" Catlan
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: The Garden of Eden (2003)
as Self - Host
Greatest Heroes and Legends: The Story of Moses (2008)
as Self - Host / Moses
My Father (2003)
as Josef Mengele
Ben Hur (2003)
as Ben Hur (voice)
The Crucifer of Blood (1991)
as Sherlock Holmes
A Man for All Seasons (1988)
as Sir Thomas More
Planet of the Apes: A Milestone of Science Fiction (2024)
as Self (archive footage)
A Night on Mount Edna (1990)
as Self
Alaska: Spirit of the Wild (1998)
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Call from Space (1989)
as Alien (voice)
The Private War of Major Benson (1955)
as Maj. Bernard R. 'Barney' Benson
Gideon (1998)
as Addison Sinclair
Symphony for the Spire (1992)
Actor
Proud Men (1987)
as Charley MacLeod Sr.
Three Lives (1953)
as Self
Jane Eyre (1949)
as Edward Rochester
Air Force One: The Planes and the Presidents (1991)
as Host and Narrator
Emergency: Donald Trump’s "Touch of Evil" (2019)
as (archive footage)
The Making of The Ten Commandments (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
The Special London Bridge Special (1972)
as Tennis Player
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: Jonah and the Whale (2003)
as Self - Host
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons (1995)
as Self
The Face of Evil: Reinhard Heydrich (2002)
as Narrator (voice)
Edith Head: The Paramount Years (2002)
as Self (archive footage)
Charlton Heston: Radical to Right Wing (2023)
as Self (archive footage)
Julius Caesar (1950)
as Mark Antony
The Stars Salute the U.S. Olympic Team (1984)
as Self - Performer
Studio One: Wuthering Heights (1950)
as Heathcliff
Original Sin (1989)
as Louis Mancini
With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film (1990)
as Self
Let Poland Be Poland (1982)
as Self - Co-Host
Gary Cooper: The Face of a Hero (1998)
as Self
This Is Your Life: 30th Anniversary Special (1981)
as Self
Nairobi Affair (1984)
as Lee Cahill
Vietnam! Vietnam! (1971)
as Narrator (voice)
The Orson Welles Story (1982)
as Self
Barry Norman in Celebrity City (1982)
as Self
The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
as Captain Paul MacDougall / Benny the Snatch / Narrator
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1986)
as Self
The Patriots (1963)
as Thomas Jefferson
The Taming of the Shrew (1950)
as Petruchio
Stars of Cabaret (1956)
as Self (archive footage)
The Mystery of the Sphinx (1993)
as Narrator
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
Children of the Civil Rights (2015)
as Self (archival footage)
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: David and Goliath (2003)
as Self - Host
Bienvenido Mr. Heston (2016)
as Self (archive footage)
Eclipse of Reason (1987)
as Narrator
Love in Hollywood (1996)
as Self
Christmas in Hollywood (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Uncertain Verification (1965)
as (archive footage)
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (2003)
as Self - Host
A Look at the World of 'Soylent Green' (1973)
as Self
All Star Party for 'Dutch' Reagan (1985)
as Self
The Greatest All-Star Advertial of All Time (1963)
as Self
Elizabeth the Queen (1968)
as Lord Essex
America at the Movies (1976)
as Narrator
Planet of the Apes Test Reel (1966)
as Thomas
A Bolt of Lightning (1951)
as James Otis
Greatest Heroes and Legends of The Bible: Samson and Delilah (2003)
as Self - Host
Fun in the Big Country (1958)
as Self
Yul Brynner, the Magnificent (2020)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
The Madding Crowd (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Peer Gynt (1941)
as Peer Gynt
All-Time Movie Greats (1988)
as Self (archive footage)
The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016)
as Self
The Mysterious Origins of Man (1996)
as Self - Host
Cults: Saying No Under Pressure (1991)
as Narrator
Energy: A National Issue (1977)
as Narrator (voice)
The Making of Midway (2001)
as Self
The Bible According to Hollywood (1994)
as Self
Todos los nombres de Sara (2019)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Charlton Heston Presents The Bible: The Story of Moses (1993)
as Self - Host
The Legacy of Malthus (1994)
as Self (Population Institute, 1993) (archive footage)
Night of the Dragon (1965)
as Narrator
The Five Cities of June (1963)
as Narrator
Charlton Heston Presents the Bible (1997)
as Self - Narrator
Noël (1992)
as Narrator
The Last Man Alive: The Omega Man (1971)
as Self - Narrator
De Madrid a la Luna (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Remembering Reagan at His Ranch (2004)
as Host
The Gun Deadlock (2001)
as Self
While I Run This Race (1967)
as Narrator
Charlton Heston Presents the Bible: Jesus of Nazareth (1993)
as Self - Host
Look at Life: The City's Built for Shooting (1963)
as Self
Private Screenings: Charlton Heston (1998)
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