Friday, August 5, 2016

Charlton Heston And Los Alamos...!

We all know that movie stars and other famous folks did a lot for the war effort, but here's a bit of history that may surprise you.

The Top Secret Narration Of Charlton Heston



Photo credit: 20th Century Fox Studios

A lot of nuclear tests were filmed for scientific analysis and made into classified videos. When a scientist complained to the head of the film and video division at Los Alamos about the poor narration in one of the videos, the head jokingly asked the scientist whether he would like then-famous actor Charlton Heston to narrate the films. When the scientist said yes, the head actually called Heston and asked him to narrate films produced by Los Alamos, including footage of nuclear tests.

To everyone’s great surprise, Heston agreed to narrate top secret films basically for free, and he was given a Q-rating, the civilian equivalent of the highest level of military clearance. One advantage of having Heston narrate the rather boring and technical films was that the people watching would be more interested in the films themselves.

Guess you just never know what some folks will do for the government. Pretty good voice for narration, I reckon.

Coffee out on the patio this morning!

6 comments:

linda m said...

Charlton Heston was one of my favorite actors. I had no idea that is narrated those films. His voice was so "commanding" that I can't imagine anyone not paying attention. Thank you for this bit of info about him. Have a great weekend.

Chickenmom said...

What a difference between the real movie stars of the old Hollywood and today's so called 'stars'!

HermitJim said...

Hey Linda...
I think that must have been the reason they wanted him to narrate. Great voice for it.
Thanks for stopping by today!


Hey Phyllis...
There certainly was a big difference and attitude. Back then actors had class and style!
Thanks for coming over this morning!

JO said...

I am a tad young to remember him or those films and I don't think there was even a TV in the house at that time. But it is still interesting.

Nice morning for the patio.

Dizzy-Dick said...

He sure did a lot but so did a lot of other movie actors and actresses.

HermitJim said...

Hey Jo...
I forgot...you're just a youngster!
Thanks for dropping by today, sweetie!


Hey Dizzy...
Many of the movie stars of that time went far beyond to do their share and more, that's for sure!
Thanks for coming by today!