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CHARLTON HESTON continued
'7t's no exaggeration for a man to assume that because
my problems home to Lydia. She is, however, an actress and would understand it if I did. I'm more apt to bring her into my work if I'm undecided about a script. Then I ask for her opinion of it.
"It's impossible for any actor to maintain constant concentration all day long on a part. He must do a total job on the set — that is his responsibility, but he doesn't have to be 'on' when he's not doing a scene."
Chuck is in many ways a dedicated actor. On the set he probes every facet of his performance. Some consider him too deep, too analytical, too self-critical. But all agree he is one actor who gives no one any trouble, who indulges in nothing but hard work.
Of all the pictures he has done, "Ben-Hur" was his toughest job, the most difficult he has ever had in any medium. Not only did he have to spend six weeks before production began in Rome learning how to drive a chariot but he had to train for the rowing sequences aboard the galley ship. There were numerous other physical encounters. In fact, he hardly had a scene without something taxing or demanding about it.
"Our director, William Wyler, is at least one of the half
dozen most talented directors in the business," Chuck went on. "No scene is easy to do for him. He made me examine and re-examine the smallest detail in a scene before we were through with it, and when you do this kind of thing six days a week for nine and a half months, I assure you you've worked. It's a bone-scraping experience.
"The physical aspects of the role were something of a hazard too. The only thing that helped me there was knowing the best chariot people in the world. But it's not easy to learn to drive a chariot and I'm certainly not a hot-shot charioteer even now." Then he added with a laugh, "Fortunately, the race was fixed, so naturally I won."
With a sigh he commented, "Making 'Ben-Hur' was a gutbuster from every angle."
When Chuck isn't working you get a look at the second Heston — the one who lives modestly and quietly with his wife, Lydia, and his four-year-old son, Fraser. But it's a pacing, restless, frustrated Heston his wife sees when he's not busy in a picture.
"Even my tennis deteriorates then," he cracked. "I play more when I'm off a picture but I play worse."
RECORDING of Biblical passages reveals Chuck's intensity as an actor. He's currently starring in MCM's epic picture, "Ben-Hur".