Charlton Heston deep in conversation with director Cecil B DeMille on the set of The Ten Commandments circa 1955. Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter in 1924) is an iconic Academy Award-winning American film actor, best known for playing larger-than-life heroic roles such as Moses in The Ten Commandments and Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur.
In 1950, he earned recognition for his appearance in his first professional movie, Dark City. His breakthrough came in 1952 with his role of a circus manager in The Greatest Show on Earth. The muscular, 6 ft 3 in, square jawed Heston became an icon by portraying Moses in The Ten Commandments, a part he was chosen for reportedly because director Cecil B. DeMille thought that he bore an uncanny resemblance to the statue of Moses by Michelangelo.
He has played leading roles in a number of fictional and historical epics - such as Ben-Hur, El Cid, 55 Days at Peking, The Agony and the Ecstasy (as Michelangelo himself), and Khartoum - during his long career.
Heston also starred in a number of science fiction films and disaster films between 1968 and 1974, some of which, like Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green, and Earthquake, were hugely successful at the time of their release and have since become cult classics.
Charlton Heston fought at times for his artistic choices of director, Orson Welles in Touch of Evil and Sam Peckinpah in Major Dundee. Heston was also president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1966 to 1971. In 1970, he portrayed Marc Antony again, this time in a Technicolor film version (the first one ever made) of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
He starred in the prime-time soap, The Colbys from 1985 to1987, his only stint on series television.

In 2001, Heston made a cameo appearance as an elderly, dying ape in the remake of the Planet of the Apes.

In July 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, from President George W. Bush at the White House.
Cecil Blount DeMille (1881-1959) was one of the most successful filmmakers during the first half of the 20th century.
Cecil B DeMille directed dozens of silent films . His film career from 1914 – 1956 was prolific but he is probably best known for his 1956 film The Ten Commandments.. He had a penchant for the spectacular shown in the 1952 production of The Greatest Show on Earth which gave DeMille an Oscar for best picture and a nomination for best director.
The Golden Globes' Life Time Achievement Award is called the Cecil B. DeMille award in his honour.