starred in the post-apocalyptic science-fiction film The Omega Man, which has received mixed critical reviews but was popular. During this time he became a gun rights advocate. In 1972, Heston made his directorial debut and starred as Mark Antony in an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play he had performed earlier in his theater career, Antony and Cleopatra. Hildegarde Neil was Cleopatra and English actor Eric Porter was Ahenobarbus. After receiving scathing reviews, the film was never released to theaters and is rarely seen on television. His next film, Skyjacked (1972) was a hit. However The Call of the Wild (1972) was a flop, one of Heston's least favorite films. He quickly recovered with a string of hits: Soylent Green (1973), another science fiction story; The Three Musketeers (1973), playing Cardinal Richelieu in an all-star cast; Earthquake (1974), a disaster film; Airport 1975 (1974), another disaster film; Midway (1976) a war film. Heston's good run at the box office ended with Two-Minute Warning (1976), a disaster film, and The Last Hard Men (1976), a Western. He played King Henry VIII for The Prince and the Pauper (1977), from the Musketeers team, then starred in a disaster film, Gray Lady Down (1978). Heston was in a Western written by his son, The Mountain Men (1980), and a horror film, The Awakening (1980). He made his second film as a director Mother Lode (1982) also written by his son; it was a commercial disappointment. Later career From 1985 until 1987, he starred in his only prime time stint on a television series in the soap, The Colbys. With his son Fraser, he produced and starred in several TV movies, including remakes of Treasure Island and A Man For All Seasons. In 1992, Heston appeared on the A&E cable network in a short series of videos, Charlton Heston Presents the Bible, reading passages from the King James version. In 1993, Heston teamed up with John Anthony West and Robert M. Schoch in an Emmy Award-winning NBC special, The Mystery of the Sphinx. West and Schoch had proposed a much earlier date for the construction of the Great Sphinx than the one which is generally accepted. They had suggested that the main type of weathering evident on the Great Sphinx and surrounding enclosure walls could only have been caused by prolonged and extensive rainfall and that the whole structure was carved out of limestone