In Private Screenings: Charlton Heston (1998), Mr. Heston sits down with host Robert Osborne to discuss his impressive film career. It was a career that got off to a running start; Heston's first film was Dark City (1950), a film noir, for producer Hal B. Wallis. And his second film, The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Cecil B. DeMille's tale of circus life, won the Oscar® for Best Picture. Heston relates the story of how DeMille cast him in the movie. Apparently it all came down to a wave of the hand. Heston drove by the director on the lot one day and waved. DeMille remarked that he liked the way Heston waved -- and the rest is history.

The pinnacle of Heston's career came with Ben-Hur (1959), a film that won 11 Oscars®, including a Best Actor award for Heston. His success continued in films like The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) where he appeared as John the Baptist and in cult sci-fi films like Planet of the Apes (1968) and Soylent Green (1973). In his over 60 films, Heston became known for his ability to bring great men of history to life. He played everyone from Moses, in The Ten Commandments (1956), to Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). As Heston put it, "I've had the good fortune to play some extraordinary men."

BW & C-58m. Closed Captioning.

by Stephanie Thames