John Charlton Carter (Heston) was born on October 4, 1923 in Chicago,
Illinois to the parentage of director Fraser Clarke Heston and Holly Heston Rochell. He went to New Trier Township High School East and was an avid
tennis player growing up. He then attended
Northwestern University prior to serving in WWII. After serving in the Air Force for three years, Heston went to work as a
model in New York, and while there met and eventually married Lydia Clarke in 1944, and the couple have been together for over 50 years. They have two children, Fraser and
Holly. After they married the couple owned a theater in
North Carolina, and while there Heston worked on his acting skills. He eventually returned to New York and found work in Browadway productions.
"Dark City" was Heston's first major Hollywood film role. Neither this nor several other films following, however, would garner him much attention until he landed the role of Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" in 1956. Soon after this he played the title role in the legendary "Ben-Hur" in 1959, which he won the Oscar for Best Actor for. Heston soon after starred in "El Cid" and won praise yet again for his portrayal of Michelangelo in "The Agony and the Ecstasy" in 1965. (1965). He also worked in a number of westerns, including "Major Dundee" and "Will Penny," and also had a leading role in the original version of "Planet of the Apes" in 1968. (He also had a cameo in the 2001 remake.)A number of sci-fi films followed, along with several disaster movies that were popular in the 1970s.
Heston has been President of The Screen Actors Guild twice, and is a supporter of the US Republican Party. He was a vocal Civil Rights activist in the 1960s, and had marched beside Martin Luther King Jr. on a several occasions. In 1997, he was elected the 1st Vice-President of The National Rifle Association, and in 1998 became President of the association.
Heston spent three weeks in a Utah rehab facility in 1999 to battle a drinking problem. Both he and his wife battled cancer several years ago, and he also developed Alzheimer's. He died on April 5, 2008.
Just some of Heston's work besides what was already mentioned:
"Any Given Sunday"
"Gideon"
"Alaska"
"In the Mouth of Madness"
"True Lies"
"Tombstone"
"Wayne's World 2"
"Dynasty" (TV Series from 1985-1986)
"Mother Lode"
"The Awakening"
"Two Minute Warning"
"The Four Musketeers"
"Earthquake"
"Antony and Cleopatra"
"Skyjacked"
"Julius Caesar"
"The Greatest Story Ever Told"
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