Charlton Heston: The EW Interview

Image credit: Everett Collection

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The fact that you got an Oscar for Ben-Hur, and it got more Oscars than any other movie, is a testament to the fact that the human element wasn't overshadowed by the action.
CHARLTON HESTON: Oh, there are marvelous, marvelous scenes, acting opportunities, in both films. And I think by and large they are fulfilled. My performance, in my opinion, in Ben-Hur is better than my performance as Moses. As I said, I was a little bit green for Moses, and it was a formidably difficult part, to play both the young prince and the wandering pilgrim in the desert, leading the Jews out of bondage. Whereas in Ben-Hur... They speak of these heroic parts. Judah Ben-Hur is not a hero, he's a survivor. He is furious that his mother and sister have been imprisoned, and his former close friend becomes his mortal enemy, and he's determined to find a way to kill him. But he in no way performs heroically other than that, his effort to save his mother and sister. He is a charioteer and, as I said, a survivor. If you survive three years in the slave galley, you are pretty tough, but that doesn't make you a hero.

Is it at all reasonable to compare those films to the films of today? Something like Ben-Hur is largely defined in people's memories by the spectacular action, and yet that element is pretty sparse. In today's films, if you have any action at all, you have to have an action sequence every 10 or 15 minutes, as opposed to just one or two.
Yeah, there's talk in Ben-Hur. [Chuckles] A lot of talk, too. Yeah, I think they're better films. I was irritated, I confess, when they said that Titanic had won just as many Oscars. There were more categories offered by then. But Titanic is a good film, no question.

I was about to say that Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur are the two most defining roles for you, but I shouldn't, because certainly you're associated in people's minds with everything from Planet of the Apes to...
Well, Gordon in Khartoum was one of my best...

After appearing in Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur so close together, did you ever chafe at all at the image of someone who appears largely in biblical-era films, or did you think, No, that's a good thing to represent?
Oh, no, I was delighted with both parts. I mean, they still are seen all the time. And I've had an odd career. I've done five Shakespearean films, which is more than any other American actor. I'm very proud of that, because those are the hardest parts. And I've done quite a few films that are widely admired, like Gordon of Khartoum and El Cid and Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, of course. I'm proud of those and delighted to have been in them. And then I've played a lot of great men — about eight or nine genuinely great men. As I said earlier, those are the more interesting parts. They're really interesting, and they really did these things that they're credited for.

Today there's really not the same opportunity for actors to play ''great men,'' per se, because...
They don't do those parts now. I guess we did 'em all. Who would you play, you know? I've done Michelangelo and Henry VIII and Cardinal Richelieu and Marc Antony and Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson. Who am I gonna play? Michael Dukakis?

More Charlton Heston:
Charlton Heston's Best Roles: An EW.com Photo Gallery
PopWatch: My Encounter with Charlton Heston