Charlton Heston (1923–2008) was a screen icon whose presence shaped cinematic memory. Born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Illinois, he grew up in rural Michigan, attending a one-room schoolhouse where he loved the outdoors and discovered acting in a world of imagination. With a strong jaw and commanding voice, he carried the kind of roles that felt larger than life.

“More than most kids, I suppose, I played games—imaginary, pretend games—living in a made-up world,” he said. A drama scholarship to Northwestern University led him to Hollywood success.

With commanding presence, he parted the Red Sea as Moses in The Ten Commandments, raced a chariot in Ben-Hur (winning the Best Actor Oscar), and portrayed “several kings, three American presidents, a French cardinal, and two geniuses,” including Michelangelo. “An epic is the easiest kind of picture to make badly,” he said— then set about making them grand.

Off-screen, Heston joined the 1963 March on Washington in support of the Civil Rights Movement and later called it one of his proudest days when the Senate passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. With the same sense of duty, he went on to serve six terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild and, as a public advocate, led national conversations with conviction.

In 2002, he shared that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease, saying, “I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure.” His life and larger-than-life roles remind us that with discipline and belief, a person can carry both story and spirit through the largest frame—and beyond.