Hondo, I'm glad you got your autographed picture. I actually met Charlton Heston, albeit very briefly, on July 9th, 1987. It was my 40th birthday and I had gotten tickets to go see Ben-Hur at one of the old movie palaces here in Detroit, the Fox Theater. They had just remastered the movie in 70mm wide screen and were taking it on tour and Detroit was the first stop. The best part of it was that Charlton Heston was coming in to introduce it. We sat about 10 rows from the stage & screen and the host of the event brought Heston out and he went on to talk about the making of the movie. He also stated on what the movie cost to make back then and how expensive it was for those times. He said if they were to make it in 1987 dollars, it would cost well over $120 million. When it was time for the movie, he didn't sit in a special box. He sat right there among the other viewers, center stage and about 10-15 rows back. He said he wanted to see it just like everybody else the way it was meant to be seen. I told my son I was going to try and get his autograph at the intermission but, by the time I got over there he had gone to another part of the theater to relax. Missed him again when the movie restarted, but, Near the end of it, I went over and stood at the top of the aisle he was sitting in. When it ended he came up the aisle and went down and met him and asked him for it and he graciously gave it to me. I told him I had seen Ben-Hur when it first came out in 59 and it was still the most magnificent movie ever made. He said, thank you very much and went on his way. Not much of a meeting or conversation, but it was my moment and I still cherish it and still have the autograph around the house somewhere.
By the way, Ben-Hur will be released on Blu-ray either next week or the week after and I'm getting it. If they do as good a job converting it to Blu-ray as they did with The Ten Commandments, I'll be happy.
Posts from WaynamoJim in thread „Charlton Heston“
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Carl, I don't know if you can still do it but, sometimes on Ebay, instead of bidding on an item, you can "Buy It Now". That way, you can just send the seller a money order for the item you want. I did that a few years ago when I bought a dvd of The Alamo: The Directors Cut from some guy in Singapore.
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Awesome, WaynamoJim! That can only be a rare treat that most of us will never enjoy in our lives. Could you scan that autograph for us to see. We'd love to see it.
Cheers
Hondo
I would have to look for it. I've got it put away somewhere and I have a bad habit of putting things in a good safe place that I will remember, then I forget where that place was. But I guarantee you, it looks just like the one Gorch posted earlier. -
I had the privilege and thrill of meeting Charlton Heston about 22 years ago. It was my 40th birthday and the studio who had the rights to Ben-Hur had just finished remastering the film in 70mm and were sedning it around the country to show in certain theaters that had the capability of to show 70mm films. They brought it to Detroit to show in the old Fox Theater and Heston came along to take part in the festivities. He was introduced and came onstage and talked about the film, how much it cost to make and what it would cost in 1987 dollars, over $100 million and, that the only way to really appreciate the film is to see it in a theater on a huge screen. That watching it on tv is not really seeing it.
When it came time for the movie to start, he sat down on the lower level with everyone else to enjoy it the only way there is. Just before the movie ended, I zipped over to the area he was in and waited at the top of the aisle for him to come up when it ended. When he got close enough, I approached him and asked for his autograph and he said sure and signed whatever I had. As he was signiing, I told him that I had seen the movie in a similar venue back in 1959 when it was first released and that it was magnificent then and still was now. He thanked me for the compliment and went on his way. He's the most famous person I have ever met and probably ever will.
