Charlton Heston -- 1923-1958

Few faces or voices were as easily recognizable in cinema during the first half of my lifetime. If not the voice of God, Charlton Heston was certainly the voice of God's messenger, Moses. I won't begin to list his many great roles, except to mention his well-loved performances in Ben-Hur, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and Planet of the Apes.

Heston was an ardent believer in America and the rights of Americans -- leading him to both march for civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther King and to head America's largest civil rights organization, the National Rifle Association.

And now the voice is stilled forever.