It seems I've been posting nothing but birthdays and deaths lately, so I did want to have a more substantial entry for my next blog - and something less somber, perhaps. But I don't want this moment unremarked-on in my blog, so here goes.
A Legend Passes OnMost of us knew him best as Moses in
The Ten Commandments (1956), or playing the title role in
Ben Hur (1959)
, which earned him an award for Best Actor that year.
The Science Fiction fans amongst us will fondly remember him from
Soylent Green (1973),
The Omega Man (1971), and two
Planet of the Apes movies.
Just yesterday, I was watching the man's performance in Midway (1976).
IMDB lists his involvement in 126 movies and television shows, as an actor or behind the scenes.
CNN notes that "he was a high-profile supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his civil rights movement. He attended King's 1963 March on Washington and stood near the podium as King delivered his "I have a dream" speech."
In August 2002, he publicly announced he was diagnosed with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease. In July 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House.
In
The Omega Man, he played a role that would later be remade by Will Smith in "
I Am Legend. (2007)" I suppose that was true oh him, too. How potent his portrayals have been! Who of us do not associate holy week sojourns with broadcasts of
The Ten Commandments? A Legend has passed on, but his body of work continues to inspire.
So it has been written. So it shall be done.
Charlton Heston was 84.
