Noted film actor and gun rights activist Charlton Heston, an Evanston native and former NU student, died Saturday. He was 84.
Heston, who had served as president of both the Screen Actors Guild and National Rifle Association, did not graduate from NU, but said the skills he learned here helped launch his career, said Anita Hillin, former director of development of the School of Communication.
Heston had studied on scholarship in the School of Communication but left in 1944 after three years at NU to fight in the Army Air Force.
"The thing that I always found about Mr. Heston was that he was unfailingly polite, cordial to everyone," said Hillin, who worked with Heston to plan a 2002 alumni luncheon for theater students who attended NU during his era. "He and his wife were very gracious hosts, and very cordially welcomed all the people there, some of whom were clearly there to meet him."
The Hestons, who met while studying acting at NU, hosted the luncheon at their home in Beverly Hills. When one attendee insisted on bringing up the actor's involvement with the NRA, Heston let her speak, listened attentively and changed the subject back to acting, Hillin said.
"He really exemplified what we hope to produce at Northwestern," Hillin said. "Thoughtful people, intelligent people who can handle their success with grace and humility."
Heston's contributions to NU went beyond his annual monetary donations. In 1983, when NU president Robert Strotz resigned, students set up a whiteboard in the basement of an academic building to bet on who would be the next president, said Bill Halldin, Medill '84 and a former Daily campus editor.
Heston was the clear winner, said Halldin, who called the actor for comment at the time.
Though Heston turned down the idea because, as Halldin put it, he had already "played Moses and two U.S. presidents," he was honored to have been considered.
In 2001, Heston visited NU for an informal discussion with students in the School of Communication. When his former professor, Helen Sullivan Knight, stepped on the stage to greet him, Heston rushed to her, grabbed both her hands and kissed them, Hillin said.
2008 Woodie Awards
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Joseph K. Wong
posted 4/08/08 @ 4:20 AM CST
I was disappointed that your report on Mr. Heston omitted mention of his vocal and very public support of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement during the 1960's while acknowledging his leadership of the NRA and support of gun owner's rights in his later years. (Continued…)
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