MovieChat Forums > 55 Days at Peking (1963) Discussion > The actual historical basis for Heston's...

The actual historical basis for Heston's character in the film.




"Shut up!" he explained.

Heston's character is based on Captain - eventually Lt. Gen., John Twiggs Myers, who received the Medal of Honor for his role in defending the legations. Fort Myers Florida was named after his father, Captain Abraham Myers (US Army - later Colonel in the Confederate army)

His maternal grandfather was Gen. David Twiggs, a hero of the Mexican War who defected to the Confederacy at the start of the Civil war.

reply

[deleted]

Many of the "British" troops would have been Indian.

reply

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

No Medal of Honor, but a real badass none the less:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jtmyers.htm

And one did not defect to the Confederacy....one defended.

reply

Interesting to discover an historical basis for Heston's character Major Lewis. 55 Days at Peking has a mixture of real people, composite or "based-upon" individuals, and wholly fictitious characters. But though we always knew there was an American military commander during the siege of Peking I'd be curious to know how much of Captain Myers's record or persona was adapted into the fictitious Major Lewis.

And one did "defect" to the Confederacy...and that's a pretty neutral way of putting it. The South's secession was an unconstitutional usurpation of power by people conducting an armed insurrection against the lawfully constituted government of this nation, by definition an act of treason, and a war of aggression in defense of the institution of human slavery.

reply

Correct. Officers were not eligible for the CMOH until 1913.

..Joe

reply