Who was Charlton Heston?

Charlton Heston (born October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist who appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years.

Heston became an icon for playing Moses in the hugely successful biblical epic 'The Ten Commandments' (1956), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. He played the title role in 'Ben-Hur' (1959), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. After 'Moses' and 'Ben-Hur', Heston became more identified with Biblical epics than any other actor.

In the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the civil rights movement. Heston left the Democratic Party in 1987 to become a Republican, founding a conservative political action committee and supporting Ronald Reagan. Heston was a five-term president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), from 1998 to 2003. After announcing he had Alzheimer's disease in 2002, he retired from both acting and the NRA presidency.