Charleton Heston

Like many people, I was saddened to hear of Charleton Heston's death. Even though I hardly agreed with his politics, he was a very good actor. And he was a nice man.

I got the chance to do a phone interview with him in 1982. I know, that's a long, long time ago.

He had directed and starred in a movie called "Mother Lode." He was very proud to be working with his son, Fraser Clarke Heston, who co-wrote the script and produced the movie. If you ever watch "The Ten Commandments," Fraser plays the baby Moses, while his father was the adult Moses. He's a writer, director and producer now.

For some reason, I knew that Mr. Heston's uncle, W.F. Jenkins, was a physician here in Columbus. I would imagine it was Clason Kyle who told me that.

It turned out that Mr. Heston used to spend his summers here while he was growing up. He even attended a local school for a year, but he couldn't remember the name of the school.

He was a gracious man.

I sent a copy of the story to his production office.

To my surprise, a few weeks later, I got a very nice thank you note from him.

I've got to find it and have it framed.

Mr. Heston's cousin, Dal Jenkins is a screenwriter who still lives off-and-on in Columbus. I used to see him around, but now that I think about it, it's been a couple of years since I saw him.

My condolences go to his family.

Like I said, he was a gracious, gentle man and a gentleman.