The Heston Commandments

Charlton Heston's career is reaching biblical length

The embodiment of the Hollywood Leading Man, Charlton Heston has played just about every historical great in the book. Now he's adding Brigham Young to his list, and, as DISCOVERS, the man who was Moses has no intention of laying down his staff.

George Wayne:Mr. Heston, do you mind if I call you Chuck? Charlton Heston: By all means . . .

G.W.You've always been known for your largerthan-life roles: Moses, Ben-Hur, El Cid. . .

C.H. Well, I challenge "larger-than-life." Most of those roles have been about specific historical individuals—Michelangelo, Richelieu, Moses. To call them larger-than-life means they are not real people.

G.W.But were you not the first action hero—before Stallone or Schwarzenegger?

C.H. I guess you could describe Ben-Hur as an action film. In a sense, I think the action film has developed as a genre. El Cid was certainly an action film. No, I take back what I said about El Cid. Both El Cid and Ben-Hur are epics. That's the proper definition of those films.

G.W.What roles are you getting these days?

C.H. I'll soon be playing Brigham Young, who is to Mormons the Moses of his day. I am also in a film with Sam Neill called In the Mouth of Madness.

G.W.You seem to be in tremendous physical shape for a senior citizen. What's your regime?

C.H. I get up at 5:30 and I read the paper, have my toast and coffee, get in the pool, and I'm out by 7. Then I play an hour of tennis.

G.W.Are you a cardcarrying member of the John Birch Society?

C.H. Certainly not.

G.W.But your politics are extremely conservative.

C.H. My politics aren't that far from the politics of the Democratic Party in the days of Jack Kennedy, for whom I campaigned. G.W.What are your thoughts on President Clinton?

C.H. Let's not get into that.

G.W.O. K. Is drinking malt whiskey your only vice?

C.H. Yeah, well, I'm trying to stop that; as you grow older you have to quit all kinds of things you enjoy.

G.W.For me there is not a more glorious image than that of a young Charlton Heston in a suit of chain mail. What role is your all-time favorite?

C.H. It would be either Macbeth or Marc Antony. The great roles are always Shakespearean.

G.W.Which of your leading ladies was it hardest having screen sex with?

C.H. I don't see any advantage in saying negative things about any of them, but I turned down a picture with Marilyn Monroe because I thought it was just gonna be too difficult.

G.W.Would you be up for a role in the sequel to Planet of the Apes?

C.H. Oliver Stone says he wants to remake it, but I don't think I'd like to do that makeup again.

G.W.What recent films have you liked?

C.H. Many, but I'll tell you about one film which I didn't like: The Piano.

G.W.Holly Hunter didn't impress you?

C.H. Well, first of all, we never were told why she was mute. And one must always remember that playing someone mute is a surefire road to an Academy Award nomination.

G.W.You must deal with awestruck strangers every day of your life.

C.H. I am grateful that people like my work. They're very nice to me and I appreciate it. You have to recognize that what they are admiring in my case— I've played some extraordinary men. So it's hard not to think well of Moses and John the Baptist and those guys. Of course, that is not really me, but I try to be the kind of public man that does not deflate that reputation. But it's hard living up to Moses.