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By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Charlton Heston | Miscellanea — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

There can be no doubt; Charlton Heston was certainly one of the most driven and devoted actors ever. And he was certainly one of the greatest. He got into acting for all of the right reasons and never allowed fame to get to his head. Quite the contrary; he used fame for the best purposes by thrusting himself into the public sphere and involving himself in civic causes in which he deeply believed. He was an actor-activist in the best sense, always ensuring that he was exceedingly well-informed about the subject matter he worked on and passionate about spreading his message to others--even when his stances threatened to curtail his acting opportunities. Hollywood is not an easy town in which to be a conservative. But Charlton Heston showed that it could be done and showed that it could be done well.

Ben Domenech, my RedState colleague, has a fine tribute. It is typical of Heston that while receiving praise from a fan, he would deflect it back and praise the fan instead. Would that others had so much class. My family and I would regularly watch The Ten Commandments every year that it came on around Passover. With Passover so near, Heston has now chosen to leave us. Interesting timing for the old actor. But I guess that in show business, you need to know how to make an exit.

Goodbye, Moses. We shall miss you.