11 Things You Didn’t Know About Charlton Heston
In the 50s he was a staple in epic movies.
Before Morgan Freeman became Hollywood’s voice of God, the role was played by Charlton Heston. Actually, it seemed like whenever an an epic movie was made in the 50s and 60s, there was Charlton Heston. We will get into why that was the case in a bit. I’ve seen a few Heston movies and liked them fairly well, so decided to do a deeper dive into his life. And we’re off!
1: Various other actors were considered for the role of Ben Hur.
Included in potential leads were Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas and Leslie Nielsen. Newman jokingly said he didn’t have the legs for it. I doubt that Kirk Douglas, the 50s version of Matthew McConaughey had any self-doubts about his body. As for Nielsen, he rebounded from missing out on the role of Ben Hur by starring in the epic trilogy of Naked Gun movies.
I’ll take the Naked Gun movies.
2: “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was inspired by a Charlton Heston movie.
Raiders bears a striking resemblance to the Heston movie, “Secret of the Incas.” Another Heston movie, “Airport ’75 was the basis for the Star Wars franchise. Hold on, being told that’s bogus.
