TRIBUTES have been pouring in after Hollywood legend Charlton Heston died aged 84.

Nancy Reagan, the widow of former US president Ronald Reagan, said she was heartbroken over the Ben-Hur star's death on Saturday.

President George Bush hailed him as a "strong advocate for liberty" and a "man of character and integrity, with a big heart".

Republican presidential candidate John McCain called Heston a devotee for civil and constitutional rights, adding: "He showed himself to be one of our nation's most gifted actors."

Even Michael Moore, who mocked Heston - a fierce gun rights advocate and head of the National Rifle Association - in his gun-control docu-film Bowling For Columbine, posted the actor's picture on his website.

Heston was a towering figure both in politics and on screen, where Heston played legendary leaders and ordinary men hurled into heroic struggles.

His characters had the ear of God (Moses in The Ten Commandments), survived apocalyptic plagues (The Omega Man) and endured one of Hollywood's most-gruelling action sequences (the chariot race in Ben-Hur, which earned him the Best Actor Academy Award).

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who co-starred with Heston in 1994's True Lies, said: "Charlton entertained millions of people during his legendary film career. He cared deeply about his craft and he loved his family, work and his country."

In a career as one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Heston starred as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar and Antony And Cleopatra, Michelangelo in The Agony And The Ecstasy, John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told and an astronaut on a topsy-turvy world where simians rule in Planet Of The Apes.

The actor died at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said. He would not comment on the cause of death or provide further details, although the actor was known to have symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.