Episode Details

Charlton Heston marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 and lobbied Congress for the Civil Rights Act. Three decades later he stood before the NRA holding a rifle overhead. The journey between those moments defines one of Hollywood’s most dramatic political transformations.

This episode traces Heston from his Michigan childhood through his rise as Hollywood’s epic hero, his genuine civil rights activism, and the conservative turn that made him a polarizing figure in American culture.

• He marched in the 1963 March on Washington and lobbied for civil rights legislation
• He played Moses, Ben-Hur, and El Cid, becoming the face of the biblical epic era
• He served as president of both the Screen Actors Guild and the NRA
• His five-word NRA declaration became one of the most quoted political sound bites of the 1990s