Editing Charlton Heston (section)

==Early life==
=== Family ===
John Charles Carter<ref name="eliot"/> was born on October 4, 1923, in [[Cook County, Illinois]], to Lilla (''[[Given name|née]]'' Baines; 1899&ndash;1994) and Russell Whitford Carter (1897&ndash;1966), a [[sawmill]] operator. His autobiography<ref name="Arena">{{cite book |last=Heston |first=Charlton |title=In The Arena |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-684-80394-4}}</ref> states that he was born in [[Wilmette, Illinois]], while most sources indicate that he was born in adjacent [[Evanston, Illinois]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Berkvist |first=Robert |date=April 6, 2008 |title=Charlton Heston, Epic Film Star and Voice of N.R.A., Dies at 84 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/movies/06heston.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112041148/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/movies/06heston.html |archive-date=November 12, 2011 |access-date=March 18, 2010 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Werling |first=Karen |date=April 16, 2008 |title=Appreciation: Charlton Heston's life as a Wildcat |url=http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2008/04/9017/heston-at-northwestern |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930152521/http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2008/04/9017/heston-at-northwestern/ |archive-date=September 30, 2011 |access-date=March 18, 2010 |website=North by Northwestern}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=March 18, 2010 |title=Charlton Heston Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/articles/Charlton-Heston-9337556 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924201149/http://www.biography.com/articles/Charlton-Heston-9337556 |archive-date=September 24, 2011 |access-date=December 11, 2014 |website=biography.com}}</ref> His birth certificate, registered when he was 11 days old, lists his name as Charlton Carter and records his birthplace as Evanston.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charlton Carter |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVPH-YW9W |access-date=9 April 2024 |website=[[FamilySearch]]}}</ref>

Heston said in a 1995 interview that he was not very good at remembering addresses or his early childhood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://charltonhestonworld.homestead.com/ChuckInterviews.html|title=Appreciation: Charlton Heston's Interview, Articles & Tribute|access-date=March 18, 2010|last=Schultz|first=Rick|year=1995|archive-date=January 27, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010127005200/http://charltonhestonworld.homestead.com/ChuckInterviews.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Heston was partially of [[Scottish people|Scottish]] descent, including from the Clan Fraser, but the majority of his ancestry was [[English people|English]]. His earliest colonial ancestors arrived in America from England in the 1600s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hollywood legend Charlton Heston was proud of Scots roots|date=April 7, 2008|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/entertainment-news/2008/04/07/hollywood-legend-charlton-heston-was-proud-of-scots-roots-86908-20375323|work=[[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]]|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-date=April 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411053941/http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/entertainment-news/2008/04/07/hollywood-legend-charlton-heston-was-proud-of-scots-roots-86908-20375323/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rusc.com/old-time-radio/Charlton-Heston.aspx?t=394|title=Charlton Heston|access-date=December 5, 2015|archive-date=December 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208143920/http://www.rusc.com/old-time-radio/Charlton-Heston.aspx?t=394|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/opinion/columns/katy_rice/11717520.Do_not_believe_everything_you_see_in_films|title=Do not believe everything you see in films|website=The Argus|date=January 12, 2015 |access-date=December 5, 2015|archive-date=December 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208134052/http://www.theargus.co.uk/opinion/columns/katy_rice/11717520.Do_not_believe_everything_you_see_in_films/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1697&dat=19620814&id=gSUqAAAAIBAJ&pg=3274,3324937|title=Park City Daily News – Google News Archive Search|access-date=May 25, 2020|archive-date=May 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526201355/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1697&dat=19620814&id=gSUqAAAAIBAJ&pg=3274%2C3324937|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Notable Kin: An Anthology of Columns First Published in the Nehgs Nexus, 1986–1995 by Gary B. Roberts, David Curtis Dearborn, John Anderson Brayton, Richard E. Brenneman, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Carl Boyer, 1997 page 21</ref> His maternal great-grandparents and namesakes were Englishman William Charlton from [[Sunderland]] and Scotswoman Mary Drysdale Charlton. They emigrated to Canada, where his grandmother, Marian Emily Charlton, was born in 1872.<ref name="ReferenceA">The 1880 United States Census; Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.</ref> In his autobiography Heston refers to his father participating in his family's construction business. When Heston was an infant, his father's work moved the family to [[St. Helen, Michigan]].<ref>[http://www.mybaycity.com/scripts/Article_View.cfm?ArticleID=1037&NewspaperID=0 My Bay City article, February 5, 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118075401/http://www.mybaycity.com/scripts/Article_View.cfm?ArticleID=1037&NewspaperID=0|date=November 18, 2011}}.</ref> It was a rural, heavily forested part of the state, and Heston lived an isolated yet idyllic existence, spending much time hunting and fishing in the backwoods of the area.<ref name="Arena"/>

When Heston was ten years old, his parents divorced after having three children. Shortly thereafter, his mother remarried and Charlton, with his younger sister Lilla and younger brother Alan, next moved to Wilmette. Heston and his two siblings took the surname of his mother's new husband. The three children attended [[New Trier High School]], which would become the high school also for the movie stars [[Rock Hudson]] and [[Ann-Margret]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Habermehl|first=Kris|date=January 25, 2007|title=Fire Breaks Out at Prestigious High School|url=http://cbs2chicago.com/local/New.Trier.High.2.334860.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031074406/http://cbs2chicago.com/local/New.Trier.High.2.334860.html|archive-date=October 31, 2007|access-date=June 28, 2008}}</ref> He recalled living there, "All kids play pretend games, but I did it more than most. Even when we moved to Chicago, I was more or less a loner. We lived in a North Shore suburb, where I was a skinny hick from the woods, and all the other kids seemed to be rich and know about girls".<ref name=Heston2>Heston, Charlton. ''The Actor's Life'', E.P. Dutton, New York (1976)<!-- ISBN, page(s) needed --></ref>{{rp|xii}} Contradictions on paper and in an interview surround when "Charlton" became Heston's first name. His birth certificate lists his name as Charlton Carter, and the [[1930 United States Census]] record for [[Richfield Township, Roscommon County, Michigan|Richfield, Michigan]], in [[Roscommon County, Michigan|Roscommon County]], shows his name as being Charlton J. Carter at age six.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7M4-STG|access-date=9 April 2024|title=Charlton J Carter|website=[[FamilySearch]] }}The 1930 United States Census; Richfield, Roscommon County, Michigan.</ref> Later accounts and movie studio biographies say he was born John Charles Carter. When Russell Carter died in 1966, Charlton's brother and sister changed their surname from Carter to Heston the following year; Charlton did not.<ref name="eliot"/>

Charlton was his maternal grandmother Marian's maiden name,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> not his mother Lilla's. This is contrary to how 20th-century references read and what Heston said. When Heston's maternal grandmother and his biological maternal grandfather Charles Baines<ref>The 1900 United States Census; Chicago, Cook County, Illinois{{better source needed|date=February 2019|reason=Is that a published source?}}</ref> separated or divorced in the early 1900s, Marian (''[[née]]'' Charlton) Baines married William Henry Lawton in 1907.<ref>Cook County, Illinois Marriages Index, 1871–1920{{better source needed|date=February 2019|reason=Is that a published source?}}</ref> Charlton Heston's mother, Lilla, and her sister May were adopted by their maternal grandfather and changed their last name to Charlton in order to distance themselves from their biological father, Mr. Baines, who was an undesirable father figure.<ref>Cook County, Illinois Marriage Indexes, 1912–1942.{{better source needed|date=February 2019|reason=Is that a published source?}}</ref><ref>The 1920 United States Census; Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.{{better source needed|date=February 2019|reason=Is that a published source?}}</ref> The Carters divorced in 1933 and Lilla Carter married Chester Heston. The newly married Mrs. Heston preferred her children use the same last name as hers.<ref>{{Citation|last=Raymond|first=Emile|year=2006|title=From My Cold, Dead Hands: Charlton Heston and American Politics|publisher=University of Kentucky Press|page=321|isbn=978-0813171494}}<!--|access-date=December 11, 2014--></ref> It was thus as Charlton Heston that he appeared in his first film with younger brother Alan Carter (small role), an adaptation of [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[Peer Gynt]]'' (1941).<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Not stated-->|title=AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iijusBRcwv4C&q=heston%20peer%20gynt%201941&pg=PA323|publisher=University of California Press|page=323|date=1999|isbn=978-0520215214|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727204807/https://books.google.com/books?id=iijusBRcwv4C&pg=PA323&q=heston%20peer%20gynt%201941|url-status=live}}</ref> His nickname was always Chuck.

=== Education ===
Heston frequently recounted that while growing up in [[northern Michigan]] in a sparsely populated area, he often wandered in the forest, "acting" out characters from books he had read.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/319357/private-screenings-charlton-heston Private Screenings: Charlton Heston (1998)] . Tcm.com; retrieved November 14, 2011.</ref> Later, in high school, he enrolled in [[New Trier High School|New Trier]]'s drama program, playing the lead role in the amateur silent [[16 mm film]] adaptation of ''[[Peer Gynt]]'', from the [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]] [[Peer Gynt|play]], by future film activist [[David Bradley (director)|David Bradley]] released in 1941. From the Winnetka Community Theatre (or the Winnetka Dramatist's Guild, as it was then known) in which he was active, he earned a drama scholarship to [[Northwestern University]].<ref name="Krause">{{cite news|newspaper=Northwestern Magazine |access-date=December 2, 2013|title=New Theater Honors Alvina Krause|date=Spring 2010|url=http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/spring2010/campuslife/krausestudio.html|archive-date=April 9, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409045158/http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/spring2010/campuslife/krausestudio.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=December 15, 2004|title=Ms. Alvina Krause|first=James|last=Goode|access-date=December 2, 2013|url=http://library.bloomu.edu/Archives/SC/BTE/alvinakrause.htm|publisher=[[Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania]]|archive-date=February 7, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207063537/http://library.bloomu.edu/Archives/SC/BTE/alvinakrause.htm|url-status=live}} Please see also {{URL|http://www.bte.org/alvina-krause}}</ref> He attended college from 1941 to 1943 and among his acting teachers was [[Alvina Krause]].<ref name="Krause"/> Several years later, Heston teamed up with Bradley to produce the first sound version of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar (1950 film)|Julius Caesar]]'', in which Heston played [[Mark Antony]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Brode | first=Douglas | date=April 27, 2000 | location=Oxford | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | page=102 | title=Shakespeare in the Movies: From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ky-hEnhihkkC&pg=PA102 | access-date=April 3, 2018 | isbn=978-0-199-72802-2 | archive-date=December 15, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215222509/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ky-hEnhihkkC&pg=PA102 | url-status=live }}</ref>

===World War II service===
In March 1944 Heston married [[Northwestern University]] student [[Lydia Clarke|Lydia Marie Clarke]] at Grace Methodist Church in downtown [[Greensboro, North Carolina]]. That same year, he joined the military. Heston enlisted in the [[United States Army Air Forces]] and served for two years as a [[radio operator]] and [[Air gunner|aerial gunner]] aboard a [[B-25 Mitchell]] medium bomber stationed in the [[Alaska]]n [[Aleutian Islands]] with the [[77th Bombardment Squadron]] of the [[Eleventh Air Force]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Mecca|first=Pete|url=http://www.covnews.com/archives/47708|title=During World War II, Hollywood got serious|publisher=Covnews.com|date=December 10, 2013|access-date=August 8, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904044627/http://www.covnews.com/archives/47708/|archive-date=September 4, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heston-tribute-to-airmen-1243279.html|title=Heston tribute to airmen|newspaper=The Independent|date=August 2, 1997|access-date=August 24, 2014|archive-date=April 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419133748/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/heston-tribute-to-airmen-1243279.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He reached the rank of [[Staff sergeant#United States|staff sergeant]].

After his rise to fame, Heston narrated for highly [[classified information|classified]] [[U.S. Armed Forces]] and [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] instructional films, particularly relating to [[nuclear weapon]]s, and "for six years Heston [held] the nation's highest security clearance" or [[Q clearance]]. The Q clearance is similar to a [[DoD]] or [[Defense Intelligence Agency|DIA]] clearance of [[United States security clearance#Top Secret|top secret]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Top Secret|url=http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/keyword/security-clearance|access-date=August 18, 2011|newspaper=[[Orlando Sentinel]]|archive-date=June 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607205747/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/keyword/security-clearance|url-status=dead}}</ref>