LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Charlton Heston, the Oscar-winning actor and head of America's biggest gun lobby, revealed on Friday that he is in the early stages of what appears to be Alzheimer's disease and vowed not "to give up."

In a video-taped announcement played at a Beverly Hills news conference, the 78-year-old president of the National Rifle Association said he was going public with his illness after having "lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you."

"For an actor there is no greater loss than the loss of his audience," said Heston, famed for his role as Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's epic "The Ten Commandments." "I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you, which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my life."

Former President Ronald Reagan ( news - web sites), an old friend of Heston's, disclosed in November 1994 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, an incurable brain disease that causes memory loss in its early stages and ultimately leads to death.

Heston said that for now he would continue living a normal life but added, "If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you'll know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway."

A spokesman, Tony Makris, told reporters Heston still plans "a very ambitious campaign schedule" going into this fall's mid-term congressional elections and has a movie deal in the works, but he declined to give details.

"He chose this method of communication after agonizing for a few days," Makris said.

'A FEW WORDS NOW'

Heston said his doctors had recently told him he had a "neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer's disease. So I wanted to prepare a few words for you now because when the times comes, I may not be able to."

The square-jawed performer won an Oscar as best actor for his title role in the 1959 gladiator epic "Ben-Hur." Other notable film roles include Michelangelo in "The Agony and the Ecstasy," John the Baptist in "The Greatest Story Ever Told," an astronaut trapped in a strange world in "Planet of the Apes," and a circus manager in "The Greatest Show on Earth."

A former president of the Screen Actors Guild, Heston has been a leading figure in the national debate over gun control as president of the NRA, America's most powerful gun lobby. His fifth one-year term as NRA president ends in April 2003.

NRA Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre later said members of his group "are happy to see him fill out his term and see him out on the campaign trail."

"His role goes to leadership, inspiration, motivation and moral guidance, and we'll continue to look to him for that."

Expressions of sympathy came from one of Heston's main foes in the debate over gun control, Sarah Brady, whose husband was wounded in the assassination attempt on Reagan.

"We are saddened by Mr. Heston's announcement," she said in a statement. "We understand how painful Alzheimer's disease can be for those suffering >from it and for their loved ones."

Likewise, Americans for >Gun Safety President Jonathan Cowan saluted Heston as a "worthy adversary in the gun debate" and said "our hearts go out to Mr. Heston and his family."

SWITCHED TO RIGHT FROM LEFT

Heston was active in the civil rights movement and campaigned for Democrats Adlai Stevenson and John Kennedy in their presidential bids. But he switched to Republican Richard Nixon in 1972 and backed Reagan in his first quest for the White House in 1980. Thereafter, Heston was identified with conservative politics and causes.

Heston invoked the names of slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and former presidents Kennedy and Reagan in his remarks on Friday.

"I'm neither giving up nor giving in," he said. "I'm still the fighter that Dr. King and JFK and Ronald Reagan knew, but it's a fight I must someday call a draw."

Alzheimer's affects an estimated 4 million Americans and 12 million worldwide. It causes dementia, once known as senility, and becomes more common as people age.

Marked by messy tangles and clumps of dead cells in the brain, Alzheimer's has no cure and is always fatal. It starts out with minor symptoms of memory loss, but patients become increasingly confused.

They can lose their way in once-familiar neighborhoods and eventually become unable to care for themselves, needing help dressing, eating and bathing. A patient lives an average of eight to 10 years after diagnosis, although some people survive for as long as 20 years.

There are drugs that can help treat the symptoms of the disease although none have any long-term benefit.

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