Men of the West

[Glorfindel]

Just wanted to post something close to a tribute for the passing of Charlton Heston. Now what does he have to do with anything about Middle Earth? Well, nothing actually, but he has been iconic to me when I think of movie heroes and larger than life characters. In addition, he has been in several genre type movies and was a good actor. You might not know too much about his career unless you are over the age of 30 or happen to be an old school movie buff. The "The Ten Commandments", which he plays Moses, might be his most well known film. My favorite is "Ben Hur" in which he won the Oscar for best actor. There are other good films like "El Cid", "Planet of the Apes (original)" and so on.

For me, reading about men like Beor, Barahir, Beren, Eärendil, and Túrin, in the Silmarillion and of course Boromir, Faramir, and Aragorn to name a few from LOTR; I sometimes think about who would be a modern representation of what a man of the west was in Middle Earth. Certainly if the Lord of the Rings had been made into a movie back in the late 50's or early 60's, and done on a large scale like "Ben Hur" or "The Ten Commandments", he probably would have been considered for a role (he was 6' 3" (1.91 m) a runner, swimmer, and tennis player).

If you haven't checked one of his films out lately, I suggest you take a look at least at "The Planet of the Apes (1968)", "Touch of Evil (1958)", or if you have 3 hours "Ben Hur (1959)".

I'll miss you Chuck, rest in peace.







[img src="i30.tinypic.com/fp3uis.jpg"]

[Glorfindel]

I added this to the original post. It was posted seperately but I decided to combine the two. This is a tribute to Paul Newman. As in the case of Mr. Heston, Mr. Newman had an excellent acting career and did a lot to help other people with his fame and fortune. He probably would have been considered to be in a Middle Earth "Arda" film if it had been done back in the late fifties or early sixties when they were doing big budget pictures like "Ben Hur" or "Cleopatra". He also contributed millions to charity through his food products. He will be missed.