In his life Charlton Heston supported a variety of causes, yet Clooney chose to judge him on the basis of one issue. As Heston himself observed, Clooney lacks "class."
Actor George Clooney joked about Heston having Alzheimer's Disease. When questioned, Clooney said Heston deserved whatever was said about him for his involvement with the NRA. Heston responded by saying Clooney lacked "class," and said he felt sorry for Clooney, as Clooney had as much of a chance of developing Alzheimer's as anyone else.
Political Activism
Heston campaigned for Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.[9] When an Oklahoma movie theater premiering his movie was segregated, he joined a picket line outside in 1961.[10] During the civil rights march held in Washington, D.C. in 1963, he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. In later speeches, Heston said he helped the civil rights cause, "long before Hollywood found it fashionable."[11]
Charlton Heston (left) with Marlon Brando, James Baldwin, and Harry Belafonte at Civil Rights March 1963.
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Following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Heston and actors Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and James Stewart issued a statement calling for support of President Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968.[12][13] He opposed the Vietnam War and said he voted for Richard Nixon in 1972.[14]
By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican.[15] He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan,[16] George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.[17]
Heston resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist."[18] He said CNN's telecasts from Baghdad were "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.[18]
At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album which included the song "Cop Killer", which depicted the killing of police officers.[19]
According to his autobiography In the Arena, Heston recognized the right of freedom of speech exercised by others. In a 1997 speech, he rhetorically deplored a culture war he said was being conducted by a generation of media, educators, entertainers, and politicians against:
"...the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle- class Protestant-or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern- or even worse, rural, apparently straight-or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owning-or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff-or even worse, male working stiff-because, not only don’t you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant, and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new-America and until you do, would you mind shutting up?"[20]
In an address to students at Harvard Law School entitled Winning the Cultural War, Heston said, "If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys - subjects bound to the British crown."[21] He went on to say that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride. He later stated, "Political correctness is tyranny with manners."[22]
Heston was the president and spokesman of the NRA from 1998 until he resigned in 2003. At the 2000 NRA convention, he raised a rifle over his head and declared that the Bill Clinton administration would take away his Second Amendment rights "from my cold, dead hands."[23] In announcing his resignation in 2003, he again raised a rifle over his head, repeating the five famous words of his 2000 speech.[23] He was an honorary life member.[24][25]
In the 2002 documentary film Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore interviewed Heston in his home, asking him about an April, 1999 NRA meeting shortly after the Columbine high school massacre, held in Denver, Colorado. Moore criticized Heston for the perceived thoughtlessness in the timing and location of the meeting. Heston, on-camera, excused himself and walked out. Moore was later criticized for his perceived ambush of the actor.[26][27][28]
Actor George Clooney joked about Heston having Alzheimer's Disease. When questioned, Clooney said Heston deserved whatever was said about him for his involvement with the NRA.[29] Heston responded by saying Clooney lacked "class," and said he felt sorry for Clooney, as Clooney had as much of a chance of developing Alzheimer's as anyone else.[30]
Heston opposed abortion and gave the introduction to a 1987 pro-life documentary by Bernard Nathanson called Eclipse of Reason which focuses on late-term abortions. Heston served on the Advisory Board of Accuracy in Media, a conservative media watchdog group founded by Reed Irvine.[31]
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