Eliot, author of well-received biographies of Cary Grant, Clint Eastwood, and John Wayne, delves into the life of Heston (1923–2008), star of such classics as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Planet of the Apes. Born John Charles Carter, Heston was later renamed by his mother (after she remarried). His first movie, made when he was still a student, was a low-budget independent production of Peer Gynt. Later, in New York, Heston was a struggling young actor who supported himself by doing some nude modeling; he bluffed his way into an audition that led to his Broadway debut, did a lot of work in the new medium of television, but—it’s hard to believe now—when Hollywood came calling, he had zero interest in making movies, thinking himself primarily a stage actor. Eliot portrays Heston as a hardworking, dedicated actor whose main goal wasn’t celebrity or money but the perfection of his craft, and that seems a fair assessment. The book covers his personal and professional lives in equal measure, and there are plenty of behind-the-scenes stories for the movie buffs in the crowd. Another winner from a dependable biographer.
This review originally appeared in Booklist, March 2017.
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