Charlton Heston died on this day 15 years ago, aged 84.
- Heston was born as "John Carter"- he took the name "Charlton" from his grandmother's maiden name, and later took his stepfather's last name.
- Heston's breakout role was as Moses in 1956's The Ten Commandments. Cecil B. DeMille chose him for the role due to his resemblance to Michelangelo's statue of Moses, and cast Heston's infant son Fraser as the baby Moses. Besides this, he also attended the premiere of The Prince of Egypt in 1998, which was conceived as an animated musical adaptation of that film:
(him and Val Kilmer- the two Moses)
- Heston would find further success by starring in more Biblical films, such as the title role of Ben-Hur and John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told, the former of which earned him the Oscar for Best Actor in 1960.
- His career would soon delve into sci-fi, and he was the star of the original Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green (the latter of which is now set in the past... specifically last year).
- In his later years, he turned to voice work, and he was the narrator for Armageddon and Disney's Hercules (only appearing in the beginning of that film).
- Heston would win the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor in 2002 for his roles as The Mastiff in Cats and Dogs, Mr. Claiborne in Town & Country, and a cameo as a dying Dr. Zaius in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes.
- Heston initially espoused liberal ideas- openly attending the March on Washington and supporting the Civil Rights Act, and the Democratic Party of California asked him to run for the 1970 Senate election against fellow actor George Murphy.
- In 1998, Heston became the president of the NRA, and it was during this time he told gun control activists that they could "pry [his gun] from his cold, dead hands". He remained in this position until 2003.
- Heston was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, which went into remission. In 2002, he announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's-like symptoms, and made his last public appearance when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in July of 2003:
By 2005, Heston's condition had severely deteriorated, and he debuted on the DeathList the following year. He was dropped from it in 2007, but returned in 2008 at the top spot, and became the sixth hit (out of fourteen) that year.