Charlton Heston was the face of the biblical and historical epic, in The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur and El Cid, and won Best Actor for Ben-Hur. The physical presence and the declamatory delivery suited a form built on scale.
The more interesting stretch is the late 1960s and 1970s, when he anchored a run of pessimistic science fiction: Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man and Soylent Green. All three end badly and all three cast him as the last competent man in a collapsing order, which is the epic persona inverted.
He marched with Martin Luther King in 1963 and later became president of the National Rifle Association, a trajectory that made him a contested public figure for the last decades of his life.
Touch of Evil, in which he is miscast as a Mexican official, is worth seeing anyway for everything around him.
Betty HuttonThe Greatest Show on Earth (1952) rates 4 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. DeMille filmed the Ringling Brothers circus for two and a half hours, wrapped it in a love triangle nobody remembers, and it beat High Noon.…
Charlton HestonAnthony Mann's 1961 Spanish reconquista epic. Charlton Heston as Rodrigo Diaz, Sophia Loren.
Charlton HestonThe genre's late masterpiece. Touch of Evil is Orson Welles's 1958 American film noir adapting Whit Masterson's 1956 novel Badge of Evil.
Ava GardnerThe Towering Inferno is the best. Both films defined what the disaster genre would be for the next.
Charlton HestonBen-Hur is one of the great American historical epics and the production that established the commercial and creative ceiling for biblical-era cinema. He had directed Wuthering Heights, Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and various other major productions.
Charlton HestonTwo substantial adaptations of the Battle of Midway. 1976 ensemble approach with Charlton Heston and Toshiro Mifune.
Charlton HestonPlanet of the Apes has one of the great endings in science fiction cinema and earns its place in the conversation entirely on the basis of that ending. The Statue of Liberty rising from the sand is the genre's most…
Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.
Ready to discuss your book?
BOOK YOUR PRIVATE CONSULTATIONNo pitch. No pressure.
© 2026 Richard Lowe. The Writing King. All rights reserved.
Four short, practical guides on writing, publishing, and selling your book, plus the occasional note when there's something worth your time. No fluff, no daily inbox clutter. Drop your email and they're yours.
We use MailerLite to manage our list and send these emails. Your address is used only to send you what you signed up for. We will not sell it, share it, or use it for anything else, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
