Evening star., 1955-07-17
Anti-CIimox
All There Is
After Moses
BY SHEMAH GRAHAM
HOLLYWOOD.

HOLLYWOOD.
I'll never make another
Biblical picture as long as ]
i've" said Charlton Heston,
now playing Moses in Cecil B.
DeMille's THE Ten Command
ments." after I finish this
picture, that is. As Moses, ]
have reached the top In Bib
lical moviemaking. How can ]
go higher-even In the Bible?''
asked Charlton, one Of the
more nkable actors in Holly
wood and the lad with the
most loyal fans and fan clubs,
while we-with Mrs. Heston-
lunched In the Paramount
commissary.
] asked Charlton II he had
ever come close to winning an
Oscar for his movie acting
prowess. Smiling wryly, he
said, II won an Oscar this
year, a little baby boy-and
also the Order Of the Golden
Safety Pin. Did you know ]
can diaper that baby with only
one hand?"
The Heston offspring made
his movie debut at the age Of
3 months, playing young Moses
in the bullrushes on the Nile.
And, to prove he was really in
the picture, DeMille gave the
baby, q solid-gold movie con-
tract. "It was fun and also
work." said the proud papa.
I'VE had to get Fra (the
baby's nickname) a social Sc
curity card and all that legal
red tape was time consuming.
Now he has q big bank ac-
count Of his own. But this
ends his movie career till he
finishes college"
One Is Enough
zone man actor in the fam
lily is enough" added Charl-
tons actress-wife Lydia.
I'VE aren't much Holly
wood" continued Heston.
1--WE don't have q big mansion.
butler, etc. In fact, we don't
even have q house-we live in
q modest apartment and there
isn't q swimming pool In sight.
which I don't mind. It wasn't
so very many years ago that I
was living in a cold-water nat
in New York and I was just
as happy" Charlton keeps an
apartment In New York and
also has q lodge in Michigan,
which he calls home. I'VE
need them all when my wife Is
acting and on the road. I fiy
to see Lydia every week. no
matter where she Is In the
United States"
Entertains Fans
When he isn't working or
flying. Charlton is entertain
ing the myriad members Of
Heston fan clubs. They visit
him at the studio where he
wines and dimes them, as II
they were visiting diplomats.
He employs two full-time sec
retaries to help answer fan
mail, and he has a reputation
In Hollywood that not many
other stars have of never
brushing OF a fan or a fan
letter.
I'VE still have two months
to 60 on The Ten Command
ments,' but with q picture
like this you don't count
time" Charlton observed.
you just put your head down
and keep working until the
end. There's only one thing
bad about this film. It should
come at the end of an actors
career. Everything that fol-
lows is an anticlimax. I would
like to do a good comedy next.
but now / want q good play
for Broadway"
Gadget Happy
Charlton is gadget happy.
IT 60 at them enthusiastically
everything from hight -f1del-
ity music to photography and
woodcraft. spend most Of my
evenings in the manual-arts
workshop of a high school. :"
He is also an excellent artist
sketches everyone on the
set and gives them his daubs.
MY present project is get
ting all Of Hemingway's books
together. having them leather
bound, and then I'll ask a
friend. who knows Ernest well
enough, to have him auto
graph them all"
"How die 'cu become an &C
tor?" I asked, -Ieston.
"Just through an outgrowth
of my need for self-entertain-
ment," he replied. "At college,
! buried myself in dramatic ac-
tiyities. That's how I met
Lydia. Before I met her, ]
never dated a girl; not even in
high school. But Lydia opened
q new world to me. We lived
on Sc a week for Q long time
in New York and it was her
$6, too. We finally got q job
to direct Q play in North Caro-
lima, but after q while gave II
UP to try Broadway again.
We had more flops, more
hunger. Then Hal Wallis saw
me walk across q TV screen
and signed me for q picture. "
DeMille Started Him
DeMille put him in the
Greatest Show On Earth" and
Charlton was off to the races.
Now he has 50 per cent OF
"The Private War Of Major
Benson" "and. while at the
studio the other day, someone
offered me half a million for