“If Hollywood had a Mt. Rushmore, [Charlton] Heston’s face would be on it… He was a heroic figure that I don’t think exists to the same degree in Hollywood today.”-Publicist Michael Levine, quoted by the AP.This statement got us thinking. If Hollywood did have a Mount Rushmore, would Chuck Heston really be on it? (And where would they put it — next to the HOLLYWOOD sign?)
Actor Charlton Heston has died at age 83. Here are the opening lines of some of his obituaries:
“If you see a little less spring to my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you’ll know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.”That was actor Charlton Heston in 2002, announcing that he had “symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.”Heston died Saturday at age 84.
“As she entered the Senate and he left the political spotlight, the Clintons transformed themselves into a successful global brand.” – The Washington PostThey paid $33 million in federal taxes and gave $10 million to charity during that period, says the Post.
French writer Emile Zola had an unusual death. He died one night in 1902 when the bedroom chimney in his Paris apartment stopped working.Here’s how The New York Times reported it the next day, in a story titled “Emile Zola Dead From Asphyxiation”:
Keith Richards puzzles it out, courtesy of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Richards and Mick Jagger star in the new concert documentary Shine A Light. Movie review here. (“Advisory: Keith Richards smokes.”)
Ever read Martin Luther King’s final speech in Memphis in April 1968?
Transportation roundup: Jerry Seinfeld has trouble with an Italian car; Naomi Campbell with a British plane.
Cartoonist Milton Caniff died on this day 20 years ago.
Actor Alec Baldwin, born in 1958. His first job was on the TV soap opera The Doctors in 1980. According to TV.com, The Doctors also helped launch the careers of Ellen Burstyn (1964-65) and Jonathan “Number One” Frakes (1977-78).
The FBI has confirmed that the parachute dug up in Washington last month was not D.B. Cooper’s. But it may be left over from the 1945 crash of a Marine Corsair.
Dr. Demento, the radio host who brought the world ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, turns 67 today.Demento said in a 2000 interview that his show’s “all time most requested song is ‘Fish Heads’ by Barnes and Barnes.” Lightly disturbing video follows.
Speaking of April 1 jokes, the Museum of Hoaxes has ranked the top 100 April Fool’s Day hoaxes of all time.#6 is National Public Radio’s 1992 announcement that Richard Nixon was running for president again. His campaign slogan? “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.”
The parachute dug up in Washington State recently was not used by jumping skyjacker D.B. Cooper, according to the man who packed Cooper’s parachutes.The Associated Press quotes Earl Crossley, who has now examined the parachute: “Absolutely, for sure… The D.B. Cooper parachute was made of nylon. This 1945 parachute was made of silk.”
The BBC program Miracles of Evolution, hosted by Terry Jones, has announced the discovery of a remarkable colony of Antarctic penguins.The Daily Telegraph has the story.
Actor Christopher Walken turns 65 today.It’s also been 30 years since his Oscar-winning 1978 turn in The Deer Hunter.The IMDB puts his career tally at 110 film and TV appearances, and counting.
George W. Bush threw out the first pitch of the baseball season last night in Washington, D.C. This morning the hot question seems to be: Did he get booed or cheered?
Dith Pran, the Cambodian journalist who survived the massacres of the Khmer Rouge, and whose story was told in the book and movie The Killing Fields, has died at age 65. The cause was pancreatic cancer.Besides the obituary linked above, The New York Times coverage includes one of their “Last Word” videos of Pran, propped up on pillows, telling his story one more time.
With the recent addition of Cindy McCain, we now have profiles of all three of 2008’s potential presidential spouses: McCain, Michelle Obama, and Bill Clinton.What to call Clinton if he becomes the nation’s first male First Lady? He himself has the best idea so far: “My Scottish friends suggested ‘First Laddy.'”
Perhaps we spoke too soon about the delights of having Karen Allen return to star opposite Harrison Ford in the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.