Charlton Heston May Be Best Remembered For 5 Words He Spoke in 2001

Actor and activist Charlton Heston would have been 90 years old today.

The great actor Charlton Heston, known for such movies as ‘Ben Hur’, ‘The Ten Commandments’ or ‘Planet of the Apes’, may yet be remembered solely for five words he said at a NRA conference in 2001. Those 5 words became a battle cry for freedom-loving Americans faced with yet another assault on their liberties by anti-gun forces. We face the same challenges today from those who would take away our freedoms, our ability to defend ourselves and our family, in exchange for a false sense of ‘safety’.

"The price of peace is eternal vigilance" - George Marshall

During the conference in Kansas City, Missouri:

Heston reminds NRA members about the organization's American heritage. Elected to his 4th term as NRA President, Charlton Heston addresses the 2001 Members Meeting by honoring the different roots and traditions that have been at the foundation of the NRA throughout the years. From the original members who came together to teach soldiers better marksmanship to the days when every policeman had NRA training to the 1960s when Second Amendment rights were challenged and the NRA stepped up to the political plate, Heston says, "The NRA knew it could make a difference, and it did."

Watch Charlton Heston's Famous 'From My Cold Dead Hands!' speech: