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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 29 March 2017
Review: Heston bio returns star of ‘Ben-Hur’ to epic stature

DOUGLASS K. DANIEL He was a star all over again “As his career progressed,” King and Robert F. Kenne-
Associated Press with a new generation. Eliot writes, “his canny dy, he publicly backed the
Talk about your movie mir- Marc Eliot’s insightful biog- choice of screen roles il- Gun Control Act of 1968.
acles: As a struggling stage raphy provides an admiring luminated what had be- Much like his friend Ronald
actor Charlton Heston yet even-handed reassess- come his essential cine- Reagan, Heston drifted
was down to posing nude ment long overdue for one matic persona: the heroic, from liberalism toward a
for art classes to pay his rent of Hollywood’s most popu- self-sacrificial, eternal loner, conservative if politically
in New York. Thirteen years lar stars. Those chiseled fea- alone in the crowd of the independent viewpoint.
later, he was posing with an tures were perfect for the world.” For many fans his late-in-
Academy Award for “Ben- melodramatic spectacles Heston wasn’t one of Holly- life presidency of the Na-
Hur” (1959), in which he enjoyed by audiences who wood’s colorful characters. tional Rifle Association was
played a man twice saved wanted a break from more The Irish hell raiser Richard a tone-deaf performance
by Christ. realistic storytelling and Harris dismissed his co-star given the toll of gun-related
Heston had felt God’s acting. Good thing — Hes- in “Major Dundee” (1965) deaths. But Heston viewed
grace in real life, too. A ca- ton was never quite com- as “the only man who the right to own firearms in
sual wave to director Cecil fortable playing a modern could drop out of a cubic terms of liberty. As he had
B. DeMille led to his third man or a romantic scene, This cover image released womb — he’s so square.” when demonstrating for
movie, the Oscar-winning yet no one did larger than by Dey Street shows “Charl- True, in the sense that Hes- civil rights, he didn’t worry
circus drama “The Greatest life better. ton Heston: Hollywood’s Last ton showed up for work about what other people
Show on Earth” (1952). His His first role was a young Icon,” by Marc Eliot. prepared, on time and so- thought.
signature role of Moses in boy named Charlton Hes- Associated Press ber, and was a devoted Heston, who died in 2008,
DeMille’s 1956 blockbuster ton. In 1923 he had been plays was a good fit for husband and father. is best remembered as Mo-
“The Ten Commandments” born John Charles Carter the deep-voiced, 6-foot- His politics were not always ses but may have been
came after Marlon Bran- in Evanston, Illinois. An idyl- 3 teenager. He met Lydia predictable. In 1961 Heston most like the title character
do and Rock Hudson had lic childhood spent hunt- Clarke while they studied was among those protest- of the 1967 Western “Will
turned it down. ing and fishing in the St. drama at Northwestern Uni- ing Oklahoma City’s seg- Penny,” a saddle tramp
Those epics and a slew of Helen woods of Michigan versity, marrying her before regated restaurants. Two described as quiet, prin-
others in the 1960s would ended abruptly at age 10 he went off to serve as a years later studio execu- cipled and practical. He
have secured Heston’s when his city-bred mother radio gunner on B-25 com- tives and colleagues failed often cited it as his favorite
place as a movie star left his blue-collar father bat missions during World to talk him out of joining the among all his films. It was
for the ages. Then came for life in Chicago with an- War II. Reunited in 1946, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s a fitting choice for a man
“Planet of the Apes” (1968), other man. A new name they headed for New York. march on Washington. He who longed for the woods
the cultish science-fiction came with the move, but Heston made a stronger was elected president of of his youth, preferred play-
thrillers “The Omega Man” young Chuck Heston al- impression in live television the Screen Actors Guild six ing heroes over villains, and
(1971) and “Soylent Green” ways thought of himself as dramas than the stage and times and opposed cutting stepped up to be counted
(1973), and disaster films a hick kid. by 1950 had attracted the federal funding for the arts. when he believed freedom
like “Earthquake” (1974). Acting in high school attention of moviemakers. After the assassinations of was at stake.q

Movie studios look to young,

diverse audiences for growth

LINDSEY BAHR can theaters in 2016, but dios “believe deeply that
AP Film Writer Walt Disney Studios distri- films ... should be seen in a
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The fu- bution head Dave Hollis theater.” “We have a com-
ture of Hollywood movies is said attendance itself has mon goal to get people to
in the hands of young and remained nearly flat for a see them in your cinemas,”
diverse audiences. decade. Meanwhile, the Hollis told people at the
At CinemaCon Tuesday, business is getting more convention.
studio executives and rep- complicated as streaming Industry executives say the
resentatives from the Na- services compete for con- focus in the coming years John Fithian, president and CEO of the National Association of
tional Association of The- sumer attention. will be on consumers 18 Theatre Owners (NATO), addresses the audience during his “The
ater Owners touted the Many of the major Holly- to 39, whose attendance State of the Industry: Past, Present & Future” presentation at Cin-
importance of both groups wood studios are looking has grown in the past two emaCon 2017 at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, March 28, 2017,
in growing the movie busi- at the possibility of short- years, as has that of diverse in Las Vegas.
ness. ening the time between audiences. Associated Press
Higher ticket prices helped the theatrical release of a Association President and lation to their population keep aggressively compet-
push the motion picture film and its availability on CEO John Fithian said His- numbers. Attendance by ing for the attention of their
industry to a record box home video. But Hollis said panics constitute the most Asian Americans and Af- young audiences through
office total in North Ameri- Disney and its fellow stu- frequent moviegoers in re- rican Americans has also Snapchat, Facebook, In-

ncreased. stagram and other tech-
Millennials make up 55 nology and apps used by
percent of frequent mov- young people.
iegoers, according to the “We live in a super-com-
association, meaning they petitive world,” Hollis said.
have seen four movies in “Our consumers continue
the past two months. to change rapidly and
Hollis challenged theater have more choices than
owners and exhibitors to ever before.”q