Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston was an actor. In the 1970s, Heston made public statements that were negative toward smoking. Below is a partial transcript from a news report about a March 22, 1977 public hearing in southern California on the health hazards of smoking:

Movie Star Charleton Heston brought the figures down to human terms. CHARLETON HESTON: My own experience is not atypical, in that the most significant of those adverse effects on my life was the early death of my father. I have never smoked. He smoked two packs of Camels every day of his adult life, which was I don't know how many years shorter than it would otherwise have been had he not.

REPORTER: What's more, Heston added, smoking can interfere with your love life, said he has a hard time smooching leading ladies who smoke.

But for all the anti-smoking testimony and scary figures, a spokesman for the Tobacco institute of America maintains there is no solid proof yet that tobacco causes any kind of disease.

HORACE KORNEGAY: Well, many people, of course, who smoke never get any of these diseases, some of them do; some of the people who do not smoke get the same diseases. And you can start with that premise and say, Well, smoking is not the cause of the dreaded diseases that have been attributed to it. Heston served as:


 * Chair Emeriti, American Film Institute
 * Emeriti Trustee, Kennedy Center
 * National Advisory Board, Accuracy in Media