Charlton Heston (October 4, 1923 - April 5, 2008) was an American actor who starred in epic films such as The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur. He was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003. Born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Lilla (née Charlton) and Russell Whitford Carter, Heston attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, and Northwestern University, where he studied drama. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Heston’s debut performance in 1947’s The Doctor and the Girl made him an instant star. He went on to play major roles in film classics such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Soylent Green, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and Planet of the Apes. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his leading role in Ben-Hur (1959). In addition to his career in the film industry, Heston was also a vocal advocate for political and social causes, including his Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003 from President George W. Bush. Heston died in 2008 at the age of 84, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, after a yearslong battle against illness. He is survived by his second wife, Lydia Marie Clarke, who he married in 1944 and whom he had two sons and a daughter with, and his daughters from his first marriage to fellow Northwestern student Martha Scott.