This year we lost Richard Widmark and Charlton Heston, two movie screen giants larger than life who carved their fame in stone during the heady days of Hollywood's artistically shining decades, the 1950s and 1960s.

Actually, Mr. Widmark made a big splash in 1947 with Kiss Of Death. It was his very first movie part as the undesirable, nutcase killer who thought nothing of pushing a little old lady down the stairs to her death! Subsequently, he followed with a few additional shady characters but involvement in mature, diversified film projects over the years further cemented his status as one of the greats.

Mr. Widmark was a class act during the prime years of his career in such movies as Yellow Sky (1948), Panic In The Streets (1950), Pickup On South Street (1953), Time Limit (1957), Warlock (1959), The Long Ships (1963) and The Bedford Incident (1965).

Of particular interest is a picture called Madigan (1968), a tough, no-nonsense cop drama in which Mr. Widmark tackled the role of Detective Daniel Madigan with flying colours. The film somewhat explores the brutish domestic side effects the demanding and consuming work of police detectives can bring.

Madigan starts off right away with tense opening sequences, whereby Dan and his partner fail to arrest a homicide suspect due to temporary distraction by the female form. In the process, they lose their guns, prompting Police Commissioner Russell (Henry Fonda) to give them just 72 hours to do their job right. In the end, this culminates with a thrilling exchange of gunfire in a hotel room.

Charlton Heston's late in life preoccupation with the "right to bear arms" aside, he had a highly successful career as an actor. A towering figure who made his starring movie debut in 1950, Mr. Heston became well-known for such key titles as The Greatest Show On Earth (1952), The Ten Commandments (1956) and of course, the mammoth, impressionable Ben-Hur (1959). When I first saw it, I remember being completely consumed and mesmerized by this blockbuster movie.

Throughout the years, Mr. Heston maintained his standing as a star with a long list of popular pictures. Sometimes smaller roles, such as 1968's Will Penny, revealed an ability for greater depthness of character study.

It is always with great sadness when we lose such high calibre actors. There is no one to replace them. Today's shaky movie scene is populated by people who do not come anywhere near displaying the presence and charisma of yesterday's heroes.

These actors were to be respected even in the way they conducted their private lives. For instance, both men stayed married to their wives a long time, despite the profession's historically poor chance for survival; Mr. Heston 63 years and Mr. Widmark 55 years, until the death of his first wife in 1997. Of course, today's cheap and shallow gossip media machine has no use for such admirable nuptial longevity.

But that's just one symptom of how low the industry has sunk. Indeed, Richard Widmark was quoted as saying, "The businessmen that run Hollywood today have no self-respect. Look at Dumb And Dumber (1994), which turns idiocy into something positive, or Forrest Gump (1994), a hymn to stupidity. 'Intellectual' has become a dirty word."

Before the advent of video cassettes, only the rich and famous could possibly own a movie library, which consisted of bulky film reels played on a projector.

Fortunately, today we can continue to enjoy at our leisure and at the touch of a button or two, the fine work left behind by the great movie stars of the past, thanks to a technological wonder called Home Video.