You're right about that excerpt from In the Arena, Tim. I remember scratching my head over that when I first read Heston's book (which, again, I highly recommend).

I watched Planet yesterday and Beneath today, and I believe the only mention of Taylor's first name (at least in Beneath) occurs in the closing credits. It's possible, I suppose, that it didn't appear anywhere in the script. In that case, he might never have been aware of Taylor's full name unless he read the credits!

Heston's role in Beneath isn't tremendous, but it's much more than just a cameo, even if you don't count the substantial scene from the finale of Planet that starts the first sequel. I doubt that Heston worked on Beneath for more than two or (at most) three days, but he's certainly in more scenes than they could have possibly done in a day. One's on location in the desert, while the others take place on the subterranean Forbidden City sets. The flashback scene with Linda and Taylor's death scene with Dr. Zaius probably didn't take long to film, but the extended fight scene with James Franciscus must have taken a while, particularly with all the different camera set-ups.

As for press coverage, I thought the newspaper world in particular (my profession for twenty-five years) did a highly responsible job with the stories on Heston's death. As I told David in a private e-mail, the first-class piece on the cover of USA Today (the best of the bunch) provided a model of balance, depth and substance in a media world where we see so little of either. The only piece that bothered me in the slightest was the Associated Press reaction story, which led off with quotes from political inner-circle friends like Bush, McCain and Nancy Reagan, but only quoted one person (Shirley Jones) who had known and worked with Heston exclusively as an actor. I would have loved to have heard more from his two or three of his surviving co-stars (there are still plenty out there, including his longtime friend Richard Johnson, Vanessa Redgrave, Linda Harrison, Michael York, Ernest Borgnine, Kurt Russell, Eleanor Parker, Karen Black, John Phillip Law, Jennifer Jones, David and Keith Carradine, Leigh Taylor Young, Rosalind Cash, Kim Basinger, Christian Bale, Tim Roth, Simon Callow, Cameron Diaz and Rosemary Harris) or one or two of the directors (Kenneth Branagh, John Carpenter, Oliver Stone, Tim Burton or Warren Beatty, for instance) who had worked with him in recent years.

I know from experience that reporters are almost always terribly constrained by time and other pressurized or crippling circumstances, but I suspect that a couple of more names listed above could have been contacted rather easily and would have been happy to respond.

Terry Pace
pillaroffire@bellsouth.net

"I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be." - Col. George Taylor (Charlton Heston) in Planet of the Apes (1968)