R.I.P. Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston has died. I first saw the news at SyFyPortal, but the news is everywhere:

/Film
Arbogast on Film
CoffeeCoffeeAndMoreCoffee
Edward Copeland
FilmsNoir
GreenCine
EvolvingThoughts
AlphaPatriot
PeskyFly

obits:

AP
Guardian
NYT
Bloomberg
CNN
BBC
Reuters

more:

SFSignal
Cinematical:

There aren't many true "Hollywood legends" still with us, and now another one is gone, as Charlton Heston died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home after a six-year battle with Alzheimer's. CNN reports that his wife, Lydia -- to whom he had been married for an astonishing 64 years -- was at his side.

The timing of his death was oddly appropriate in several ways. Given that some of his most famous roles were religious in nature -- Moses, John the Baptist, Judah Ben-Hur -- it seems fitting that he should die exactly between the Easter and Passover holidays. His death also occurred one day after the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, and Heston was an ardent supporter of King's. He marched with King, and stood on the platform with him when he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

NPR calls him a "conservative activist" and details some of those causes but makes no note at all of his civil rights connection.

Monkeyfister
SFScope

4/7/2008:

Self-Styled Siren
NPR
Another Old Movie Blog:

For a man with such varied film and stage experience, who also wrote about his career, who collected memorabilia from his films, one wonders at the irony that at the time of life when memories of his career should have been his comfort, he was likely stripped of most of them due to a wasting disease. When he announced his Alzheimer’s a few years ago, he rejected pity. How can one not pity?

God's Politics
Obit Magazine
GetReligion

4/13/2008:

Huffington Post reports the funeral.