Page "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" Paragraph 25

Charlton Heston showed little interest in reprising his role as George Taylor from the first movie, but agreed to briefly appear with the provision that Taylor be killed at the story's start and that, instead of being paid, the producers donate money to charity.

According to Associate Producer Mort Abrahams, Heston refused initially to appear in the sequel but " he made so much money out of the first one " that studio head Richard Zanuck asked Heston to do a cameo as a favor.

Although Heston did not profit from this film, Taylor disappears at the story's start, only to be reunited with Brent much later in the movie and die at the end.

Heston claimed it was his idea that Taylor detonate the " ΑΩ " ( Alpha Omega ) doomsday bomb.

Taylor and the mutants and apes would die when the bomb, as Taylor says in the film, would " Burn the planet to a cinder.

How's that for your ultimate weapon?

" Fox studio exec Richard Zanuck agreed.

Heston hoped that would end the series.

This turned out not to be the case, since three additional sequels were made by APJAC Productions.

An alternate script idea was for Taylor to escape with Nova and father a race of intelligent humans.