Heston touched my own life in a small but memorable way. I work for an entertainment industry website; in 1994, we were print only and hand-delivered. The day of the earthquake, my boss asked me to come up with a topical joke to include in the day's material. I wrote (this was a year after the riot) "Will the agent or manager of CHARLTON HESTON ask him to please stop calling down plagues upon Los Angeles. We will let his people go." Army Archerd picked the gag up for his column, and the next day, when Heston appeared on The Tonight Show (to give EARTHQUAKE safety tips in Sensurround), Carson introduced him with my joke. This may be the coolest thing that ever happened to me, cooler even than walking out of the Nuart after a screening of EL CID and finding Heston standing on the corner of Santa Monica and Sawtelle, saying to friends "I thought we could get a beer or something..."

Gutridge