He excels at playing larger-than-life heroes, and won the Academy Award (Best Actor Oscar) in the title role of Ben Hur in 1959. He has made over 100 movies to date. He served six terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild and in later years became a frequent spokesman for Republican Party positions. He is now well known as the President of the National Rifle Association. An outspoken man with strong political convictions, he made a controversial speech at Harvard University in February 1999 in which he spoke about America's cultural war to regain some of the qualities upon which the country was founded. Soylent Green and The Omega Man, two films made during his 70s sci-fi period remain my favourites.
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John Charlton
Carter was born 4 October 1924 in Evanston, Illinois. He
studied at Northwestern University, starring in a student
film version of Peer Gynt, before entering the Air Force
in World War II. After work on Broadway and television he
made his Hollywood debut in Julius Caeser in 1950.