Think the NRA will give him a 21-gun salute?

I caught the initial news report on the Post last night around 12:15 am (though I was too tired to blog about it then), but last evening actor Charlton Heston, known most for starring in a number of biblical epics, died.

A long, long time ago, Charlton Heston came to Penn State as part of their Distinguished Speaker series, and he was one of two famous people I was privileged to see (the other being James Earl Jones), and during his appearance, Heston appeared quite frail physically—yet the power and charisma behind his voice still remained. Though during the Q&A that followed, he struck me as not being the most personable, which was a stark contrast to James Earl Jones (who struck me as a warm, grandfatherly figure). I don't recall Heston proclaiming "from my cold, dead hands" during his speech at Penn State, but he did utter another of his famous lines: "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

I really don't have a stance on the issue of gun control, but I do think Heston lost a lot of his standing and took quite a bit of heat when he became president of the NRA. Not the least of which came in Bowling for Columbine, when Michael Moore essentially made an ass out of him when Moore came to visit Heston's home to talk about gun control.

The last time I heard about Charlton Heston in the news was about five years ago, when he made his televised statement about being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. At the time, it reminded me a lot of Ronald Reagan's similar statement during the mid-90s about having Alzheimer's, and I'm guessing this disease was the cause of Mr. Heston's departure.