Charlton Heston's Son Opens Up About the 'Ten Commandments' Star's Pro-2A Beliefs
For anyone who is familiar with the work of Hollywood icon Charlton Heston, who appeared in more than a hundred films over the course of a 60-year career, they know that acting wasn’t his only passion.
In addition to being adored for his roles as Moses in the 1956 classic “The Ten Commandments” and George Taylor in the 1968 “Planet of the Apes,” the actor was known for emphatic support of the U.S. Constitution.
Whether it was serving his country on the front lines during World War II or speaking out against racism during the Civil Rights Movement, Heston felt it was his duty to protect the nation.
“He was an artist and he felt this urgency to express himself, not just on set or a stage, but in his everyday life,” his son Fraser Heston told Fox News during a recent interview about his father’s legacy.
Fraser said his father was an avid supporter of the National Rifle Association and his dedication to the organization was just one more way he felt he could extend further protection.
The actor and activist was elected as the NRA’s president in 1998 and served in the position through 2003.
In a now-famous moment at the NRA’s 129th convention in 2000, Charlton told attendees that if the government wanted to take his gun, they’d have to pry it out of his “cold, dead hands.”
During the Fox interview, the younger Heston explained that while his father was patriotic and loved the United States, he was far from the “gun nut” that the media made him out to be.
“He wasn’t a gun nut. He did not have a basement full of machine guns as he’s been depicted on the internet. He was simply an American patriot. He served his country in World War II and he wanted to do more to protect this nation,” Fraser Heston said. “He was socially very liberal.
“He believed that all men and women are created equal. He believed our country needed to live, grow and breathe as a free society. He believed that America was the hope of the world and wanted to preserve that. It all comes down to freedom,” he said.
Charlton used his public platform to march and fight alongside civil rights activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1963 March on Washington.
Fraser Heston told Fox News that his father was well aware of his celebrity status and knew that people would listen to what he had to say.
“As a celebrity, he knew he had an advantage and he was a good communicator. He also had an audience, one that would show up if he had something to say,” he said.
“He saw himself as a leader in his fictionalized roles, as well as his real life.”
Charlton Heston spent his life advocating for the things that he thought would help the United States grow as a nation and never fell to the pressures of society. More than a decade after his death, that legacy lives on.
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