Charlton Heston was an indelible and inseparable element of my cinematic youth. His movies were everywhere in the sixties, 14 theatrical releases that decade, BEN-HUR still playing in extended runs, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH in re-releases, a couple of TV movies/shows, and his older films all over TV. There was no avoiding Mr. Heston, even if we wanted to, which we didn't.

And though his forte was not humor, he good naturedly kidded his image on a SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE a few years back and came off outstandingly in some truly hilarious stuff. Later, he even allowed himself to be a target of humor in TOWN AND COUINTRY in which he basically played the crazy gun-wielding old man that many believed him, falsely, to be.

Forget about whether he was a great actor or not (he certainly was a good one) -- he was a great Movie Star and a Great Man. I will miss him.