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talking with ... Charlton Heston
By Champ Clark
From People Magazine, September 7, 1998
He has driven a chariot, rowed in a slave galley, even parted the Red Sea.
But "physically, Planet of the Apes was the most arduous thing I've ever
done," says Charlton Heston, 73. "In the first place, I was all but
naked through the whole thing, thrashing through the hushes," explains the
actor, recalling the 1968 sci-fi classic. "I was fire-hosed and dragged and
choked and whipped and caught in a net and held upside down and all kinds of fun
things. Had rocks thrown at me. And, I'll point out to you, even rubber rocks
hurt."
Ah, sweet memories. On Sept. 6, you can see Heston get bonked, mauled and
pawed all over again as American Movie Classics reruns Planet and its four
sequels in a 30th-anniversary marathon, starting at 9 a.m. ET -- along with a
first-run behind-the-scenes documentary (at 5:30 p.m. ET). As rough as he had
it, says Heston (who returned briefly in the first Apes sequel), "it was
really terribly unpleasant for the people playing the apes." Roddy McDowall,
Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans had to sweat 12 hours a day inside thick latex
makeup. Which posed a problem during Heston's kissing scene with Hunter in
Planet. "It was very, very curious," he says. "You're a long way
from the inside of her mouth -- about 31/2 inches." At least his own
anatomy was genuine. As Heston undraped for a nude scene, a coffee girl on the
set quipped, "Hmmm, nice buns."
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