I guess someone can pry it away from him now . . .

Stump -
"Charlton Heston"

[ from the album "A Fierce Pancake" (1988) ]

Lyrics

The pyramids were in construction
The pharoah glowed with satisfaction
But then to his immense surprise
His empire fell before his eyes
A hundred thousand busy slaves
Downed their tools and stood and stared

The Red seawalls stood like a canyon
The pharoah pulled up in his wagon
And saw within those walls of glass
A herd of whales go racing past
A hundred thousand fishy tales
Crossed his mind about the day

Then Charlton Heston put his vest on

The broken tablets had been mended
The golden calf had been up-ended
And old folk sitting round the fire
Would talk of voices from the sky
Babies sailing down the Nile
The recipe for locust pie
A hundred thousand frogs per mile
We'd always ask them to describe

How Charlton Heston put his vest on

Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal
Shalt not commit adultery
Boils the size of fifty pee
Lights! Camel! Action!
Bushes that refuse to burn
See these sandals hardly worn
Raining blood, raining bread
The night we painted Egypt red
Thou shalt not covet, shalt not lie
Thou shalt not bonk your neighbour's wife
The recipe for egg fried lice
A hundred ways to kill a fly
Love your daddy, love your mummy
Put your bread in milk and honey
Loved his fish, he did, he did
Never beat the wife and kids
Slouch though desert, slouch through sand
Until we reach the promised land
Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal
Shalt not commit adultery
Boils the size of fifty pee
Lights! Camel! Action!

From: Charlton Heston's Wiki entry

Heston campaigned for Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.[10] When an Oklahoma movie theater premiering his movie was segregated, he joined a picket line outside in 1961.[11] 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."[12]
In 1968, following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Heston appeared on The Joey Bishop Show and, along with fellow actors Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and James Stewart, called for public support for President Johnson's Gun Control Act of 1968.[13][14] He opposed the Vietnam War and said he voted for Richard Nixon in 1972.[15]
By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican.[16] He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan,[17] George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.[18]
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."[19] He said CNN's telecasts from Baghdad were "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.[19]
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.[20]
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?"[21]
In an address to students at Harvard Law School entitled Winning the Cultural War, Heston expressed his disdain for political correctness, stating "If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys - subjects bound to the British crown."[22] He stated "Political correctness is tyranny with manners".[23] He went on to say that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride.


Heston accepting a presentation rifle at 2000 NRA convention with the now well-known exclamation "From my cold, dead hands!"
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."[24] In announcing his resignation in 2003, he again raised a rifle over his head, repeating the five famous words of his 2000 speech.[24] He was an honorary life member.[25][26]

I'm confused about Heston. On some subjects I totally agree with him and yet on others I find him totally reactionary. I guess that's what made him such an interesting character. He was never part of 'the herd'.

You could never accuse Heston of being 'just one of the sheep'.

He knew his own path, and followed it no matter what others thought.

Good for him.

Michael Moore's interview in Bowling for Columbine did him no favours with the Left, but I doubt he cared.

Good for him

He'll be missed.