Hestons Mark 50 Years of ‘Symbiosis’

Everyone was dying to know the secret of Charlton and Lydia Heston’s 50 years of marriage. Respect? Loyalty? Undying love?

Nope.

“People have been asking me, and I have no sensible answer,” said Lydia. “But tonight I think I know--turn Republican.”

The former socialist was kidding, but the 200 people who came to celebrate the Heston’s half-century wedding anniversary loved it anyway.

Friends and family gathered at the Hotel Nikko in Beverly Hills Friday night for a five-hour black-tie dinner-dance that lasted past midnight and included loving toasts to the couple as well as some well-meaning roasts, some aimed at Heston’s well-known conservative politics.

It was a far bigger affair than the Hestons’ wartime wedding, witnessed by two strangers.

Helping the couple celebrate this time around were Edie and Lew Wasserman, Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, Mike Medavoy, Fred Hayman, Lee Minnelli, Wayne Rogers, Jack Valenti, Martin Landau, Veronique and Gregory Peck, L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, Rosemarie and Robert Stack, former education secretary and drug enforcement chief William Bennett, Mel Torme, and Heston children Fraser (with wife Marilyn) and Holly (with husband Carlton Rochell). Some offered their own theories on the couple’s successful union.

“They are very dedicated to each other,” said Paramount producer A.C. Lyles, who met Heston when the actor first came to the studio decades ago. “And they’re in love with each other--I guess that helps, doesn’t it? They have the unique ability to be in the most glamorous city in the world and yet be the most common couple, the way they live, the way they conduct themselves, their activities.”

Said Torme, a friend of the couple for about 10 years, “At the risk of using a cliche, they’re very much in love, and it shows at every turn.”

Fraser Heston, who has directed his father in several projects, added, “They have their own lives and they have lives together. My mother went from being an actress to being a photographer, and the two of them are equally good together or apart--I think that’s part of the strength of it. They need each other, rely on each other, but it’s a good symbiosis.”

Lydia Heston agreed with everyone’s assessment of her marriage, and offered this advice for newlyweds: “Hang in there.”

Charlton Heston recalled meeting his wife in a theater class at Northwestern University when he was 17.

“That was my first date,” he said. “My first date with anybody. I was a pretty weird kid then. But I obviously found the right girl the first time out. And I had the brains to recognize that, even at 17.”

Further details of their courtship were laid out in “Pursuing Lydia,” a chapter from Heston’s not-quite-completed autobiography that was given to each guest.

The party had a definite anniversary celebration feel to it, with guests like Robert Stack showing some fancy footwork on the dance floor and Heston taking his grandson Jack Heston around for a spin.

The Hestons cut a four-tier anniversary cake to the strains of “Moonlight Serenade” and then settled in for entertainment from Torme and guitarist Liona Boyd, plus a round of toasts.

Said friend Leonard Stern: “A toast to a couple currently appearing in the longest-running marriage in town. May there be many curtain calls.”