A day after Heston died at age 84, Reagan recalled the man who played Moses and Ben-Hur as “one of Ronnie’s dearest friends.”

A heartbrokenon Nancy Reagan Sunday led a flood of tributes to Hollywood  legend  Charlton Heston whom she remembered as a big-screen giant and a “hero in life.”

“I will never forget Chuck as a hero on the big screen in the roles he played,” Reagan said in a statement. “But more importantly I considered him a hero in life for the many times that he stepped up to support Ronnie.”

Heston died of the same illness that felled President Ronald Reagan.