Back in 1986 I interviewed a special effects man named Mike Clifford who had worked on two films with Heston - THE MOUNTAIN MEN and MOTHER LODE, both collaborations with Heston's son Fraser. He had no trouble citing the actor as his absolute favorite to have worked with, and specified that while making MOTHER LODE Heston wouldn't take a meal break until the rest of the crew had already been taken care of.

Mike related a gag that effects supervisor Gene Grigg played on THE MOUNTAIN MEN: "There's a scene where an Indian is shot in the neck with an arrow. Heston is a little worried about it and wanted to see how we would do it. Gene sometimes has a morbid sense of humor. We were just supposed to shoot the guy with the arrow, and he'd fall dead. No blood. Gene decided to put a blood bag on the guy's neck. He told the actor "When you feel this thing hit grab your neck and fall down - don't move!" So he shoots the arrow down a wire into a piece of balsa wood on a piece of steel around the guy's neck. The bag burst, and blood gushes out everywhere. The Indian falls down and lies still. Heston's looking a little worried and asks "What happened?" Gene, his face straight as can be, says "Uh - we killed him. You've got a bunch more - go get another one for the part!" We thought Heston was going to faint!"