by Dave Workman
Senior Editor

As the firearms community mourned the loss of former National Rifle Association (NRA) President Charlton Heston, the Academy Award-winning actor who brought a larger-than-life screen presence to the gun rights movement, friends and former colleagues, and admirers across the nation recalled him as “the right man at the right time” and someone who “did the right thing, despite the possible consequences.”

Heston died at home Apr. 5 following a long decline from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 84.

He served as NRA president for an unprecedented five years, and during that time he campaigned tirelessly for gun rights, free speech and conservative causes.

Former NRA President Marion Hammer, whom Heston succeeded in office, told Gun Week, “I loved Charlton Heston…He was a great American.”

In the gun rights community, you would have to look hard to find any disagreement with that observation. As news of his passing swept across the country, gun activist chat lists began discussing Heston’s impact. Critics were few and far between.

Heston was elected to the NRA board of directors in a contentious 1997 election in Seattle, WA, for the “76th seat” and in a stunning maneuver, two days later he successfully ran for the office of first vice president, unseating veteran gun rights leader Neal Knox.

But Heston was no late-comer to the gun rights battle. NRA Secretary Jim Land reminded Gun Week that in 1982, Heston took a high-profile stand against California’s Proposition 15, a handgun ban/gun registration scheme that was soundly rejected. In a 1999 interview with Fishing & Hunting News, Heston recalled that he had been invited some years earlier to participate in a discussion with several other actors and show business types about crime and guns, but when it became clear to him that this was a gun control effort, he walked away.

In part because of his role during the Prop 15 campaign in California, Heston was a Top 10 nominee for the Outstanding American Handgun Award in the mid-1980s. While his filming schedule prevented him from attending the Foundation’s annual banquet, he subsequently met with a representative who presented him with an award pistol and spent a cordial hours discussing guns and gun rights.

Heston was no stranger to public policy debates having served previously as president of the Screen Actirs Guild and as a prominent civil rights campaigner with Martin Luther King during the 1960s.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre worked with Heston for 28 years on the gun rights issue.

“For him,” LaPierre said, “it was all about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”

Heston, he recalled, “never bought into all that Hollywood stuff. He had a political philosophy that the sanctity of American freedom was defined by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and that’s what made America different from every other country in the world. That really was his foundation and his rock. He felt a duty to go out and defend them whenever they were attacked.”

During a confrontation between Heston and a reporter in the 1980s, LaPierre remembered that the actor chastised her by asking, “Young lady, most Americans don’t have a problem with the Bill of Rights, what’s yours?”

LaPierre said Heston not only had a good instinct about what to say and when to say it, “he also had a good political gut.”

The actor’s stature and his defense of civil rights, said LaPierre, is the reason “all over this country, why there are babies named Charlton.”

As a formidable spokesman for firearms rights, Heston perhaps had no equal. His voice echoed through auditoriums and convention halls, and it was in a battle over gun rights legislation when he threw down the gauntlet, challenging the anti-gun Clinton Administration as nobody else could.

“Mr. Clinton,” said Heston in an advertisement, “when what you say is wrong, that’s a mistake. When you know it’s wrong, that’s a lie.”

Former NRA President Sandra Froman recalled that he may have been the only person in America who could make such a statement “stick” because of his prominence. She noted that Heston was never fearful of taking someone or some institution to task, as he did with the press corps during a famous speech he gave at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

“When he called the guardians of truth to task for failing to properly fulfill their role,” Froman said.

Froman said Heston exhibited considerable courage for taking pro-gun positions, considering that Hollywood seems to practice backlash or blacklisting against those in show business who follow a conservative philosophy.

“He understood when he acted what the consequences of his actions were,” she said. “He was willing to accept the risks, because he was doing what he believed was right. He knew what the consequences of his stand on gun rights would be, but he did it anyway. People saw him and were inspired and motivated by him.”

Heston came from humble roots. Born in 1923 as Charles Carter in a suburb of Chicago, IL, his family moved to Michigan and he grew up there in a small town. There, he recounted in several speeches and in his autobiography, owning guns was common and hunting was not merely a sporting tradition but a necessity to keep food on the table during the Winter.

His parents divorced in the 1930s and after his mother re-married to Chester Heston, the family moved back to the Chicago area. He entered the drama program in high school and enrolled at Northwestern University on a scholarship. He met his future bride, the former Lydia Marie Clarke, in drama school, and after they married in 1944, he enlisted in the Army. They remained married for 64 years, and she was with him when he died.

WWII Veteran
He served in Alaska as a radio operator and gunner in a B-25 crew, rising to the rank of staff sergeant. After leaving the service and failing to find work in the theater in New York, the Hestons began acting in the theater in North Carolina, where the couple spent several seasons in Asheville.

Heston took his professional name from his mother’s maiden name, Charlton, and his stepfather’s last name, Heston.

His film career took off with his role as Moses in “The Ten Commandments,” and he appeared in such epics as “The Big Country,” “El Cid,” “55 Days at Peking” and “Khartoum,” and won his only Oscar for his starring role in “Ben Hur.”

But in his later years, it was as a conservative political activist and as a leader of the NRA that brought Heston renewed time in the public spotlight. He seemed to relish his new role as much as any before the camera or on the stage. And he had an impact on those whom he met on the political trail.

Former Republican state Rep. Susan Tabor of Michigan recalled her private meeting with Heston, who was in the state for a political rally in 2002.

“It was one of the most thrilling moments of my lifetime,” she told Gun Week. “He looked down at me—he was very tall—and said, ‘Young lady, from what I’ve heard about you, you have more guts than most men I know’.”

John Cushman of New York, a member of the NRA board of directors, recalled Heston fondly as “very down to earth.”

“He was sharp,” Cushman said. “He really knew his stuff. He brought us the kind of (positive) attention that we couldn’t possibly buy, not only because of what he knew, but because of the way he presented himself.”

NRA’s chief lobbyist, Chris Cox, told Gun Week, “I had the honor of traveling with him in the 2002 and 2004 election cycles. America has lost a great patriot. He was a champion of everybody who loves freedom in this country. When he saw an injustice, he spoke out and spoke up. He was just great.”

Commanding Voice
Kayne Robinson, who served as vice president behind Heston and traveled all over the country with him, said they became close personal friends. Robinson, perhaps better than anyone, summed up Heston’s legacy.

“With his voice, he caused the American people to pay attention to the importance and real meaning of owning firearms,” Robinson stated, “and how important it was to them to personally own guns…It created a reverberation that will last a long time across this country, where the average American, because of Heston’s voice, (will realize) that the Second Amendment is really important to them.”

Heston’s powerful voice, he said, “magnified that in a way tens of millions of Americans who had never thought of it now appreciate it.”

Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, observed, “While we join our friends at the NRA in mourning the loss of this great American, we should also celebrate the fact that he lived, and that he stood up when it counted. He was certainly an inspiration to those whose lives he touched, and to the millions of gunowners whose rights he unselfishly defended.”

“Charlton Heston set an example by doing what he thought was right,” Gottlieb added, “and as a nation, we are the better for it.”

Perhaps Robinson summed it up the way Heston would want it: “He was a good guy.”