Charlton Heston died at the age of 84.

The tall actor with his somewhat swaggering, awkward gait will be remembered, no doubt, for the great roles he made as Judah Ben-Hur, or Moses. I preferred him in two other roles.

The first was as Steve Leech, the rough and thwarted lover in "The Big Country", a less than admirable and noble character but nonetheless unltimately as decent and manly as his nemesis in that movie (Gregory Peck's Captain McKay).

"Leetch tries to impress Patricia by picking a fight with McKay]
James McKay: If it's a fight you want, you've picked the right time for it, haven't you?
Steve Leech: Yeah, I'm offering you a fight. Or ain't that a nice word back east?
James McKay: You're gambling, Leech. You're gambling that if we fight, you can beat me. And you're gambling that if you beat me, Ms. Terrill will admire you for it.
Steve Leech: Out here, we leave a lady's name out of an argument.

I love this movie.

The second was in a very brief skit on one Saturday Night Live episode, where he was an amorous Jewish convert talking to his Jewish fiancee (a real yente-type) . It was very funny, to see this stereotypical "goy" using such words as "chutzpa" (which he pronounced "shutzpa") trying to impress with a newly acquired set of Yiddishisms.

I couldn't find that clip on youtube, but I found this.

A great and larger-than-life actor is no longer with us. I doubt today's Hollywood could produce another one quite like him.