TCM to honor the late Charlton Heston

LOS ANGELES, April 7 (UPI) -- Turner Classic Movies said it plans to pay tribute to late Hollywood film star Charlton Heston with a marathon of his movies.

Heston, who had suffered from Alzheimer's disease in recent years, died Saturday at the age of 84.

The movie marathon honoring him is to take place Friday and will include screenings of his famous films "Ben-Hur," "The Buccaneer," "The Hawaiians," "Khartoum" and "Major Dundee," as well as two showings of an in-depth conversation between Heston and TCM host Robert Osborne in the TCM original special "Private Screenings: Charlton Heston."

"Charlton Heston was a towering man both in person and on screen," Osborne said in a statement. "He was also one of the nicest, most courteous gentlemen I ever met. He will forever stand tall among those rare few we know as genuine movie stars."