American Toby Jug Museum 

Charlton Heston character jug prototype designed by Eric Griffiths and produced by Royal Doulton of Burslem, England, in 1989 commissioned by UK International Ceramics for a proposed Great Film Stars Collection. Charlton Heston (1923-2008) was an American actor in film, theater and television. Born John Charles Carter to a mill operator in Evanston, Illinois, Heston acted in community theater and earned a drama scholarship to Northwestern University. After serving two years in the Air Force during WWII, he moved to New York City where he began acting on Broadway and television. Heston is known for having played heroic roles, such as Moses in "The Ten Commandments", Colonel George Taylor in "Planet of the Apes", El Cid in "El Cid", and Judah Ben-Hur in "Ben-Hur", for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Heston was also known for his political activism. In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Initially a moderate Democrat, he later supported conservative Republican policies and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003. This prototype character jug depicts Charles Heston in the title role in the 1959 film "Ben-Hur". A "Ben-Hur" filmstrip forms the handle of the jug.