Charlton Heston Collection
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (b. 1923) was born Charles Carter in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in Michigan and Illinois. At Northwestern University he majored in speech and drama. After serving in the Air Force during World War II, Heston acted in community theater, on Broadway, and on live television in Studio One in the late 1940s.
With The Greatest Show on Earth (Paramount, 1952), Heston's film career soared, and he starred in a succession of historical-epic pictures, including The Ten Commandments (Paramount, 1956), Ben-Hur (MGM, 1959), El Cid (Allied Artists, 1961), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (United Artists, 1965). Other memorable roles include Touch of Evil (Universal-International, 1958), The Big Country (United Artists, 1958), The Agony and the Ecstasy (20th Century-Fox, 1965), and Planet of the Apes (20th Century-Fox, 1968). Heston went on to direct and star in Antony and Cleopatra (Rank Film Distributors, 1972).
He has acted in several film and television projects written and/or directed by his son, Fraser Clarke Heston, including The Mountain Men (Columbia, 1980), Treasure Island (TNT, 1990), and Alaska (Columbia, 1996). Among Heston's television credits is a starring role on the series The Colbys. He has served six terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild and as chairman of the American Film Institute. Autobiographical writings include The Actor's Life: Journals 1956-1976 and In the Arena. Heston received an Academy Award for best actor for Ben-Hur and was presented the Academy's 1977 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.The Charlton Heston Collection spans the years 1941-1992 and encompasses 19 linear feet. The collection contains production files, television files, stage files, general files, and scrapbooks. The production files contain script and production records for nearly fifty films, covering Heston's career from Peer Gynt (David Bradley, 1941) to Almost an Angel (Paramount, 1990). Films with the most production material include Antony and Cleopatra (Rank Film Distributors, 1972) and The War Lord (Universal, 1965). Titles represented by scripts and miscellaneous material include The Agony and the Ecstasy, Airport 1975 (Universal, 1974), Ben-Hur, The Big Country, 55 Days at Peking (Allied Artists, 1963), The Greatest Story Ever Told, Major Dundee (Columbia, 1965), The Naked Jungle (Paramount, 1953), The Omega Man (Warner Bros., 1971), Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green (MGM, 1973), The Ten Commandments, Touch of Evil, and Will Penny (Paramount, 1968).
Films with miscellaneous material but no scripts include El Cid and The Greatest Show on Earth. Of interest are script drafts by Fraser Heston for The Mountain Men. The television files contain primarily scripts for nearly two dozen television projects ranging from Climax! to Charlton Heston Presents the Bible. There are voluminous scripts for The Colbys and the miniseries F.D.R. Among the other television-related titles represented are Chiefs, Dynasty, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Proud Men, Saturday Night Live, and Treasure Island (with a shooting script by Fraser Heston). The stage files contain play scripts, programs, and clippings for more than two dozen plays ranging from The American Way (1941) to Love Letters (1990).
There are a few radio scripts and scripts for various video projects narrated by Heston. The general files contain correspondence, clippings, and reviews regarding book publicity tours for The Actor's Life; a Beijing Diary manuscript; CH Chronicle (1969-1977) fanzines; an entire run of the Charlton Heston Newsletter (1956-1971), written by Heston; clippings on Heston; lists of Heston's film, television, and stage appearances; interview transcripts; text of addresses given by Heston as president of the Screen Actors Guild; figure sketches by Heston; and a variety of essays written and/or spoken by Heston. Numerous scrapbooks document Heston's career from 1939 to 1975; a few were compiled by fans in Germany, Japan, and Taiwan. Among the oversize material are set plans for Antony and Cleopatra; sketches Heston drew during the production of The Greatest Show on Earth; and a photocopy of the score for Mother Lode (Agamemnon Films, 1983) by Ken Wannberg. Gift of Charlton Heston, September 1992; February 17, 1993; May 26, 1998.
