Everybody knows the image. The white hair. The stone tablets. The outstretched arm over the Red Sea. Charlton Heston as Moses in The Ten Commandments is one of the most iconic images in cinema history.
But here is what most people watching on ABC on April 4 - or catching the 4K theatrical restoration in theaters before Easter - do not know. The man who played Moses was not acting from the outside in. He was drawing from something real.
He was a man of genuine faith
Charlton Heston was a lifelong and faithful churchgoer who immersed himself in the stories of Scripture. According to his son Fraser, "He was definitely a man of faith. He believed in all the fundamental Christian values, and he just loved the stories from the Bible. As he said, they were the greatest stories ever told."
This was not a Hollywood image carefully managed for public consumption. Those who knew him best reported that he lived with great humility - a man who took his faith seriously in private, not just in the roles he chose to play. Jubileecast
Playing Moses changed him
Heston prepared for the role of Moses the way a man prepares for something he knows matters. He did not simply memorize lines and hit marks. He studied. He read. He wrestled with the character the way the character wrestled with God.
"I always work on the theory that the audience will believe you best if you believe yourself," Heston said. "This meant that I had to come to understand Moses well enough to believe in my portrayal of him."
And the deeper he went into Moses, the more it affected him personally. He reflected on what happened to Moses after his encounter with God on Mount Sinai - and what it meant for his own life. "Once we talk to God, once we get his commission to us for our lives, we cannot be again content. We are happier. We are busier. But we are not content - because then we have a mission."
That is not a line from the film. That is Charlton Heston talking about his own life.
He went back to Scripture long after the cameras stopped
Heston's commitment to Scripture did not end when The Ten Commandments wrapped. Compelled to share the Bible as it had been shared across generations, he later traveled to the Holy Land to create Charlton Heston Presents the Bible - a four-part documentary series filmed on location in Israel and the Middle East, in which he read directly from the King James Version while walking through the actual biblical sites.
His trip back to Mount Sinai - the place where God spoke to Moses about leading his people out of bondage - was particularly moving to those who watched it. This was a man returning to a place he had spent years thinking about. Not as an actor revisiting a famous role. As a believer standing on holy ground.
The film itself points beyond itself
As the story of The Ten Commandments progresses, just as in the biblical account, the film reveals that God is the true hero. Moses cuts a traditionally heroic figure - someone you could easily see people wanting to follow. But by the end of the film, God has spoken loud and clear, and it is His mightiness over the power of man that defines everything.
That is what DeMille intended. And it is what Heston understood when he accepted the role.
Why this matters as you watch it this Easter
The Ten Commandments airs on ABC on Saturday, April 4 at 7 p.m. ET. It screens in 4K restoration in select theaters through April 2. Wherever you watch it - the story behind the story is worth carrying into the room with you.
Heston played three biblical roles across his career - Moses, John the Baptist, and Judah Ben-Hur. He brought the same seriousness of faith to each one. He died in 2008 at the age of 84, after 65 years of marriage to his wife Lydia, who was at his side at the end.
The man who parted the Red Sea on screen spent his whole life pointing toward something far bigger than any film. That is the version of Charlton Heston worth knowing this Easter.
Related Article: 20 Things You Didn't Know About 'The Ten Commandments' Before You Watch It This Easter
