Legendary actor Charlton Heston is set to get his own commemorative stamp from the U.S. Postal Service, and the timing of it couldn't be more appropriate, says Hollywood PR representative Michael Levine.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed 50 years ago, and a three-day conference this week has honored the heroes of the civil rights movement, including Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Lyndon Johnson, who led behind-the-scenes efforts to pass the bill, then signed the bill into law.
Heston was an avid supporter of the civil rights movement, Levine told John Bachman and J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV. The late actor, who died in 2008, was one of many
Hollywood luminaries who joined the 1963 March on Washington, where King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
"[T]he thing that young people have a very difficult time understanding in terms of historical significance is that – go to Washington in support of Martin Luther King in August of 1963, was not only not particularly popular in many, many parts of this country, but it was bloody dangerous, really dangerous," Levine said.
"Of course today, Martin Luther King is reviewed by all Americans appropriately as an almost saintly historical figure, but I promise you in August 1963, it was really, really unpopular in many parts of this country and terribly dangerous. So Mr. Heston had the courage of his conviction, whether it be the support of the Second Amendment [a cause Heston championed later in his life] or in supporting the Civil Rights movement."
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Levine, who said he represented Heston for 20 years, fought to have Heston commemorated on a stamp after he discovered that some of the younger staffers in his office had never heard of his former client.
"Frankly that [ticked] me off a little bit and I decided at that point that a postage stamp might be a fitting tribute," Levine said.