My favorite Charlton Heston movie is "Will Penny," a 1968 western. I think Heston's performance as the title character -- a lonely cowpoke -- is his best. Heston displayed touching rapport with Joan Hackett in that film.

The New York Times obituary for Heston doesn't mention "Will Penny." Or "The Omega Man." Or "The Big Country." And those are three movies that I greatly enjoyed as a kid. Remember the bruising fight between Heston and Gregory Peck in "The Big Country"? That western reminded us there's more than one way to be a man.

The obituary does explore Heston's activism with the National Rifle Association and his oft-quoted statement that gun-control advocates could take his gun "from my cold, dead hands."

The hands are cold now: Heston died Saturday night at age 83.

But Heston left a strong gallery of characters. He won the Oscar for "Ben-Hur" for playing a hard-hearted hero forcefully and for driving a chariot with gusto. The chariot scene is probably his best-remembered moment on film.

Or maybe you prefer his Moses parting the Red Sea in "The Ten Commandments."

Or perhaps you like Heston best in "Planet of the Apes," in which he speaks the memorable line, "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" And what about the stunning ending of that movie?

The one-two punch of "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur" ensures that Heston will be a remembered star. "Ben-Hur" won the best picture prize for 1959, and so did another Heston epic, "The Greatest Show on Earth" from 1952.

What also should be remembered is that Heston was a good actor -- which is often forgotten when a star takes a political stand and turns off part of the audience. And on that point, it doesn't matter if you're Heston, John Wayne, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda or Susan Sarandon.

Ah, but the acting. Heston's most surprising performance is as Cardinal Richelieu in "The Three Musketeers" and "The Four Musketeers." He proved he could stretch way beyond those heroic roles.

Obituaries paid attention to his big roles in "El Cid," "The Agony and the Ecstasy," "55 Days at Peking" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told." He was Chuck Heston, man of spectacle.

Yet I'll bet most movie fans prefer him in "Planet of the Apes," "The Omega Man" and "Soylent Green." The Heston movie that keeps growing in stature is Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" from 1958.

He could be mean, too: Just look at him brood in "The Big Country."

Let us not underestimate his good looks, either. He bares his chest in a lot of movies. There was a reason Anne Baxter was panting after him in "The Ten Commandments."

"Ben-Hur" has gained new attention in recent years with the revelation that Stephen Boyd, as the villain Messala, was instructed to play the man as being in love with Ben-Hur. You didn't hear about that in 1959.

In a long career, Heston kept pushing himself by trying new things. He hosted "Saturday Night Live," acted in the miniseries "Chiefs" and played a character on "Dynasty" that migrated to the spinoff "The Colbys."

Heston had a sense of humor, too. He appeared in "Wayne's World 2" and wore simian makeup in the remake of "Planet of the Apes."

And there is "Will Penny." "I really got to like the guy," co-star Bruce Dern said. "He tried very hard. I mean 'Will Penny' is far and away the best thing he's ever done."

I agree. He was a lot more than Ben-Hur or an NRA supporter. The hands are cold, but the movie memories are warm. And they can't take those away from us.

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