In the Arena: An Autobiography

New York: Simon & Schuster, c1995. First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. Signed by the author. 24 cm, 592 pages. Illustrations. Index. DJ is price clipped. Black mark on bottom edge. Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter or Charlton John Carter; October 4, 1923 - April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film, The Ten Commandments, for which he received his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama. He also starred in Touch of Evil, Ben-Hur, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes. He also starred in the films The Greatest Show on Earth, Secret of the Incas, The Big Country and The Greatest Story Ever Told. A supporter of Democratic politicians and civil rights in the 1960s, Heston later became a Republican, founding a conservative political action committee and supporting Ronald Reagan. Heston was the five-term president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), from 1998 to 2003. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2003, he retired from both acting and the NRA presidency. Derived from a Kirkus Review: A spirited, sprawling, at times delightfully quirky memoir by Hollywood's own Mount Rushmore. With roles ranging from Moses to Michelangelo to Sir Thomas More to the Voice of God, Heston dominated Hollywood for years in a series of lavish epics, including The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. In an era populated by steel-jawed men such as Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, Heston was perhaps the most ferrous of them all. Yet he was one of the few American Shakespearians of any note. He worked with many of America's best directors. He is a perceptive and engaging raconteur as he traces his career from high school theater and the obligatory but brief down-and-out days in New York City to his ascent to Hollywood fame and fortune. Heston offers many useful insights into acting and directing, and his recollections of the people he worked with contain some real gems, especially his analysis of various directors' methods.