Charlton Heston will be remembered as a legendary actor and the only man capable of portraying the gigantic roles in his most famous films.

But Heston was also a learned man who was unafraid of asking questions, forging conclusions and then supporting those conclusions. He understood classical liberalism, Edmund Burke and Western values - and took the best of all three. And he was - as all serious thinkers are - unapologetic.

Heston campaigned with Kennedy and Reagan, marched with Dr. King and served as President of the National Rifle Association and the Screen Actors Guild.

In his autobiography In the Arena, he wrote of the culture war being waged against:

“…the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle- class Protestant-or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern- or even worse, rural, apparently straight-or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owning-or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff-or even worse, male working stiff-because, not only don’t you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant, and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new-America and until you do, would you mind shutting up?”

Some of us will remember Heston not just for his fantastic acting, but also for that larger than life role he embodied every day - that of Charlton Heston.

The American Mind has a solid collection of video clips, reactions and more reactions from a broad range of internetters.

And, of course, an epic clip that isn’t fiction [RSS readers click here]: