Community Corner

When a Movie Star Gets on a Stamp, the Party's in Hollywood

A first-day-of-issue ceremony for the Charlton Heston Forever Stamp will be held today at the TCL Chinese Theatre.

Originally posted at 9:15 a.m. April 11 2014. Edited with new details.

A stamp depicting Charlton Heston was issued today at the TCL Chinese Theatre with his widow Lydia and son Fraser among those paying tribute to the late Oscar-winning actor.

"In many ways, a nation's stamps are a cross-section of a culture, its ideals and icons in microcosm," Fraser Heston, a filmmaker, said.

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"As a fervently patriotic American, my father would be deeply moved to know that his image, based on one of my mother's photographs, will be on a United States postage stamp."

The stamp is the 18th in the Legends of Hollywood series, which began in 1995 with a stamp depicting Marilyn Monroe. The Heston stamp is the first in the series since 2011, when Gregory Peck was honored.

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Others to have been honored include John Wayne, James Stewart, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Cary Grant.

The ceremony was held in connection with the fifth annual Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival and was hosted by Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz.

"Charlton Heston brought an intensity and power to the screen that few could ever match and nobody could ever forget," Mankiewicz said. "He commanded the screen with memorable performances that stood out against even the most spectacular backgrounds."

The world premiere screening of the newly restored version of the Heston- starring 1958 film noir "Touch of Evil" at the TCL Chinese Theatre followed the ceremony.

Heston portrayed a Mexican drug enforcement officer helping American detectives investigate a car bomb explosion at a border crossing. The film was directed by Orson Welles, who played the corrupt American detective heading the case.

Heston won the best actor Oscar in 1960 for "Ben-Hur," the only time he received a nomination, and may be best remembered for playing Moses in "The Ten Commandments."

Heston often played fictional and historical heroes, including "El Cid," Michelangelo in "The Agony and the Ecstasy" and Mark Antony in the 1970 version of "Julius Caesar" and "Antony and Cleopatra" two years later.

Heston's other memorable roles include a marooned astronaut in "Planet of the Apes" and a detective in "Soylent Green."

Heston died in 2008 at the age of 84.

--City News Service


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