If you've ever been a fact-checker, you probably had beaten into you the fact that — above everything else — you must get a person's name and age right. When we were starting out, we once let "Kerri" Kennedy Cuomo slip by us and we can still count the cane lashing scars on our ass. So our buttocks started tingling in sympathy when we read the New York Times' corrections admitting that they'd screwed up Charlton Heston's birth name and age in his obituary. There were some other goofs as well.

An obituary in some editions on Sunday and in some copies on Monday about the actor Charlton Heston misstated his given name at birth. It was John Charles Carter, not Charlton Carter.

A front-page obituary and a headline in some editions on Sunday about the actor Charlton Heston misstated his age and the year of his birth. He was 84, not 83, and was born in 1923, not 1924.

And a list of Mr. Heston's films accompanying the obituary on Monday misstated the relationship between two characters in the film "Midway," in which Mr. Heston played a Naval officer. The characters, the officer's son and a woman of Japanese descent, are hoping to marry; they are not already married.

The obituary also referred incorrectly to the character played by Orson Welles in the film "Touch of Evil," in which Mr. Heston had a starring role. The character, Quinlan, is a police captain, not a sheriff.

If Britney Spears has taught us anything (and, really, there are too many things to count), it's that these obits are written years in advance. Writer Melissa Kirsch points out that this had probably been in the works since 1999 when he was battling prostate cancer and rewritten again after the onset of Alzheimer's. Yet, no one caught it.

The police captain/sheriff mix-up, however, is a little more forgivable. We thought that the only difference was sheriffs are required to have mustaches and travel in the company of tumbleweeds. But, hey, that's why we don't write for the Times.

1:28 PM on Thu Apr 10 2008
By Noelle Hancock
3,327 views
33 comments

Comments

depardoo at 01:33 PM on 04/10/08
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Do your buttocks start tingling when TCM shows "Spartacus"?
contradicto at 01:33 PM on 04/10/08
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Is Charlton even a real name?
SarahHeartburn at 01:34 PM on 04/10/08
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Hey, I sympathize. My mom died 20 years ago and we still don't exactly know how old she really was. She lied on every official form she filled out, and all through her life. I imagine lots of other people do too.
mathnet at 01:35 PM on 04/10/08
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@contradicto: Of course it is.

-- Margarathan
Ed at 01:37 PM on 04/10/08
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"And furthermore, Heston was not born with female genitalia but was - surprisngly - male his entire life. We regret the error."
Conbon at 01:38 PM on 04/10/08
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OK now you're just tormenting me, Noelle.
Ha Ha Sound at 01:39 PM on 04/10/08
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But I'll bet they got the number of Glocks in his weapons collection right.

[www.freefoto.com]
Lonesome_George at 01:39 PM on 04/10/08
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Also, he didn't really die. Sorry about that.
hypocriteoath at 01:41 PM on 04/10/08
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@Ha Ha Sound: well, "all of them" is pretty hard to mess up.
HiredGoons at 01:42 PM on 04/10/08
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@contradicto: It's a dance, a less popular version of the Charlston.
tonilost at 01:42 PM on 04/10/08
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Best role he ever had was in "Touch of Evil", love his dyed hair and trying to be a hot Latin.
Sarcastro at 01:43 PM on 04/10/08
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Mr. Heston was not consumed by Michael Moore, he died of natural causes. We regret the error, as understandable as it may be.
BalknChain at 01:43 PM on 04/10/08
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It's not he was that well known or anything
Bercovici at 01:44 PM on 04/10/08
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You can't really blame them, though. It's not like anyone could've seen this coming.
cassandra at 01:45 PM on 04/10/08
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Well, obviously they didn't read either Wikipedia or IMDB, both of which I read with interest shortly after ABC showed The Ten Commandments, and which make it clear that he took his mother's maiden name and stepfather's last name, etc. etc.

What? The more you know...
contradicto at 01:47 PM on 04/10/08
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@HiredGoons: Oh I thought it was a variant of "chortle," commonly used in the mid-seventeenth century.
PickleTitsTurner at 01:49 PM on 04/10/08
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Age: Dead

Does that make him timeless?
NinaHagen at 01:51 PM on 04/10/08
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I'm still in mourning, black bunting in the windows...last of the great chests...
NinaHagen at 01:56 PM on 04/10/08
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[images.art.com]
brechtgirl at 02:01 PM on 04/10/08
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@tonilost: put a mustache on any man, (tan optional) and suddenly hes Mexican.
Nacho Libre, anyone?
Greasy Thumb Guzik at 02:01 PM on 04/10/08
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@contradicto:
It was his mom's maiden name.
PimpMyCouch at 02:02 PM on 04/10/08
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@BalknChain: I'm wondering who exactly this Heston fellow is. Ben-Hur, you say?
fileunder at 02:10 PM on 04/10/08
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While the obituary correctly referred to his affiliation with the NRA, it was the National Rifle Association, not the National Restaurant Association.
Gregoire at 02:11 PM on 04/10/08
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I believe porn star Harlton Cheston is still alive.
depardoo at 02:20 PM on 04/10/08
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@Gregoire:

No, that's Carl Hungus you're thinking of.
DahlELama at 02:21 PM on 04/10/08
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I'm just saying, if people.com can get his age right, wedged between such journalistic gems as "Fergie Loves Sparkly Shorts!" and "Jessica Simpson Stand By Her Dog!" then the Times probably should've been able to handle it.
PandoraSpocks at 02:22 PM on 04/10/08
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What, they never heard of the IMDB or calling SAG? No excuse for so many stupid mistakes.
SarahHeartburn at 02:31 PM on 04/10/08
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@NinaHagen: Ick. Sorry, Nina, it looks like he's nursing twins implanted under his torso flesh.
scarletmenace at 02:41 PM on 04/10/08
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Does Alessandra Stanley write obits now?
DaeSu at 02:57 PM on 04/10/08
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@depardoo: Charlton Heston isn't in "Spartacus." That's Kirk Douglas. (I think the Heston photo is from "Ben-Hur."
depardoo at 03:24 PM on 04/10/08
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@DaeSu:

That wasn't the point. It's the old joke about pervy old guys (e.g., Airplane) who get off watching gladiator movies. One has clearly failed when one has to explain the joke. Sorry.
MrDeltoid at 05:24 PM on 04/10/08
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Most likely the NYTimes updated Heston's obit last year and in their zeal of breaking a news story (And the fact that Heston didn't do anything newsworthy since then to warrant an update) they went ahead and printed the story, errors and all. Clearly their Pulitzers must've got in the way of their computer screens.
onebadclam at 05:47 PM on 04/10/08
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"And we are told Soylent Green was just a movie plot device. Please disregard our six part series on the topic."