Library Journal
Heston's memoir traces an amazingly prolific and durable career from his starring roles in historical epics of the 1950s and 1960s (The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur) through disaster films of the 1970s (Earthquake) and into recent years spent largely as a stage actor and in TV character roles. As a published author (Bejing Diary, LJ 10/1/90, and the best-selling The Actor's Life, LJ 12/1/78), Heston no doubt actually wrote this volume and can be presumed to be a reliable chronicler. Throughout he is unusually generous to colleagues, totally devoted to his family, and surprisingly restrained in offering his well-publicized conservative political views. This memoir of a popular actor and his long career is recommended for most collections.-Thomas Wiener, Editor, "Satelite DIRECT"
In the Arena: An Autobiography
by Charlton HestonView All Available Formats & Editions
Looking back over a career that has spanned half a century and a lifetime devoted to being the best possible, both as an actor and as a man, Charlton Heston writes of what it was like to live In the Arena. Heston began his career as an actor in New York shortly after he returned from service in World War II. Television was a fledgling industry then, and there were… See more details below
Overview
Looking back over a career that has spanned half a century and a lifetime devoted to being the best possible, both as an actor and as a man, Charlton Heston writes of what it was like to live In the Arena. Heston began his career as an actor in New York shortly after he returned from service in World War II. Television was a fledgling industry then, and there were many opportunities for young performers in this new medium. Broadway was thriving as well, and Heston found work there too. It was not long, however, before Hollywood took note of his talents and his commanding presence. Soon he was embarked on a series of films that were both memorable and hugely successful. He was Moses in The Ten Commandments; he played the title character in Ben-Hur (for which he won an Academy Award); he was Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy; he played the title character in El Cid; he has played presidents, generals, and statesmen. In recent years, Heston has continued to appear in films, on stage, and on television, but at the same time, he has devoted a great amount of his energy to causes in which he has strong and outspoken beliefs. An active supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the early days of the struggle for civil rights in America, he continues to this day to lobby hard for the rights of all men to live family and equally in a country that he loves dearly.
Editorial Reviews
Ray Olson
You'd hardly expect Chuck Heston--as decent a guy as any American actor's ever been--to produce a racy tell-all, and he doesn't. Rather, he recounts his career, although only after glowingly recalling his rural Michigan childhood and poor adolescence in contrastingly tony Wilmette, Illinois--then as now among Chicago's wealthiest suburbs. A drama scholarship to Northwestern University set him on the road to success and a string of distinguished films rivaled by few other actors of his generation. The stories of making those movies are the meat here, with seasoning coming from Heston's parallel stage accomplishments, his activism with the Screen Actors' Guild (he succeeded Ronald Reagan as SAG president), words of wisdom on the crafts of acting and filmmaking, tart asides on current cultural foibles (like Reagan, he's a former Democrat turned staunch Republican), and loving references to wife and children. But there's no gossip, which movie lovers who especially admire the grand-style filmmaking of Heston's 1950s1960s heyday won't miss a bit, so enthralled they'll be with the production anecdotes about "The Ten Commandments", "Ben-Hur", and "El Cid", among others.Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780684803944
- Publisher:
- Simon & Schuster
- Publication date:
- 03/28/1995
- Pages:
- 592
- Product dimensions:
- 6.45(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.65(d)
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