Charlton Heston’s return to the planet: first centenary of the protagonist of ‘Ben-Hur’

Charlton Heston He died 15 years ago but, since 2002, after announcing that he suffered from a degenerative dementia similar to Alzheimer’s, he retired from public life. The unforgettable Moses of The ten Commandments He died at the age of 84 at his residence in Beverly Hills (California) on April 5, 2008, accompanied by his wife Lydia, whom he met at university and with whom he was married for 64 years. They had a son and an adopted daughter.

This October 4 marks the centenary of his birth and it is a magnificent opportunity to review some of the films he starred in, becoming one of the undisputed icons of the Seventh Art.

The actor, who was born near Chicago a century ago, played roles that are in everyone’s imagination. He was the man who screamed when he discovered the Statue of Liberty buried on the beach in Planet of the Apes (1968), but it is also the face that an entire generation gives to Michelangelo, Moisés, El Cid Campeador, and above all to Ben-Hur, the film for which he won his only Oscar in 1959, although for many his best work was done a year earlier, directed by Orson Welles, in thirst for evil, with Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother, before Anthony Perkins had stabbed her in the shower Psychosis.

He not only shone in epic cinema, where he was also Cardinal Richelieu or Mark Antony, Henry VIII and even Buffalo Bill. For many years Charlton Heston was the ideal actor to play historical figures. But with his 1.90m height he triumphed in adventure films (When the mob roars) or in disasters (Airport 1975) or in the western, where he was Major Dundee (1965) under the command of Sam Peckinpah.

TCM celebrates the 100th anniversary of its birth by offering some of its titles and launching a cycle that includes some of its most important titles, such as Ben-Hur, Torment and Ecstasy or Thirst for Evil. “My greatest contribution to Sed de mal was not playing the character of Vargas but persuading the studio to choose Orson Welles as director,” he used to say proudly.

Between 1998 and 2003 he was president of the National Rifle Association and defended the right to free possession of firearms in the United States, a position that involved him in various controversies, but which could not tarnish a film career full of successes. A race that TCM will honor every Wednesday in October, especially on the 4th, when the centenary of his birth is celebrated and the entire day’s programming will be dedicated to this great actor.

Where to watch Charlton Heston’s movies on television

of the movie: Thirst for Evil, The Valley of Fury, Red Alert: Sunken Neptune, The Prince and the Pauper, The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Airport 75, Blue Horizons, Horizons of Greatness, The Torment and the Ecstasy, City in Shadows, Passion Under the Fog, Mystery on the Lost Ship, Major Dundee, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Alarm: Flight 502 Hijacked!, The Untamed, Hamlet, In the Mouth of Fear, When Destiny Catches Up with Us.

HBO Max: Ben-How.

Disney+: Planet of the Apes.

Netflix: The Prince and the Pauper.

Prime Video: The Assassination of Julius Caesar, The Buccaneers. The platform also gives access, through purchase or rental, to other titles such as: The White Forest, Mark Antony and Cleopatra, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Law of the Strong, When the Marabunta Roars, Ben-Hur or The Ten commandments.

FlixOlé: Mark Antony and Cleopatra, The White Forest.

TCM special programming for Charlton Heston’s centenary

The TCM channel, available on Movistar Plus, reviews Charlton Heston’s filmography every Wednesday in October with special programming that begins tomorrow with the following times:

Wednesday October 4

13:30 The last man… alive (The Omega Man, 1971)

15:10 The Battle of Midway (Midway, 1976)

17:15 The Three Musketeers: The Queen’s Diamonds (The Three Musketeers, 1973)

19:00 When destiny catches up with us (Soylent Green, 1973)

20:35 Sed de mal (Touch of Evil, 1958)

22:00 Ben-Hur (Ben-Hur, 1959)

13:30 The torment and the ecstasy (The Agony and the Ecstasy, 1965)

Wednesday October 11

20:25 When destiny catches up with us (Soylent Green, 1973)

22:00 The Battle of Midway (Midway, 1976)

Wednesday October 18

19:35 The torment and the ecstasy (The Agony and the Ecstasy, 1965)

22:00 Sed de mal (Touch of Evil, 1958)

Wednesday, October 25

20:25 The last man… alive (The Omega Man, 1971)

22:00 Ben-Hur (Ben-Hur, 1959)