Charlton Heston

Academy Award-winning actor Charlton Heston died Saturday at the age of 84. Heston, who starred in epic films such as Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments, later made a name for himself as a conservative activist.

The actor started his career during the era of the Hollywood studio system. In 1988, he went to China in 1988, and directed an all Chinese production of "The Caine Mutiny." Heston's written about that project in a new book, Beijing Dairy. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his decades-long career in cinema.