By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Charlton Heston was a major movie star for over half a century, appearing in some of the most popular films made during that era. He could be romantic, rugged and sometimes even funny. And he was willing to make fun of his heroic -- and some might say also pompous -- image on "Saturday Night Live," "Wayne's World 2" and even on "Friends."
But he seemed most at home in epics such as "Ben-Hur," for which he won his Oscar, and playing historical figures such as Moses in "The Ten Commandments," Andrew Jackson in "The President's Lady" and "The Buccaneer" and Michelangelo in "The Agony and the Ecstasy."
He also served seven times as president of the Screen Actors Guild, was chairman of the American Film Institute and the winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Award for his humanitarian activities. An outspoken conservative in his later years, he was a strong advocate for the National Rifle Association and served as the organization's president from 1998 to 2003.
Heston showed incredible bravery when he announced in 2002 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. "For an actor there is no greater loss than the loss of his audience," he said. "I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you . . . "
Here's a look at Heston's life in film, TV and theater:
Read Heston's obituary
here.
