The Omega Man - Interracial Kiss

Interracial Kiss

Whoopi Goldberg has remarked that the kiss between the characters played by Charlton Heston and Rosalind Cash was one of the first interracial kisses to appear in a movie. Subsequently in 1992 when Goldberg had her own network interview talk show, she invited Charlton Heston to be a guest and asked him about the kiss in The Omega Man. Heston stated that he received a lot of hassle for it at the time because it was considered controversial. When Goldberg asked him what it was like to kiss Rosalind Cash, Heston leaned forward and demonstrated on the unsuspecting Goldberg. The unscripted moment took everyone off guard, particularly Goldberg, who reverted back to as if she were a "16 year old" since she had grown up watching Heston and viewed him as a screen legend. (Heston's roles included playing Moses in 1956's The Ten Commandments and as the lead in 1959's Ben-Hur, among other prominent roles before entering into science fiction with 1968's Planet of the Apes).

Screenwriter Joyce H. Corrington stated that in developing the script for The Omega Man, the character of Lisa, played by Rosalind Cash, was created due to the rise of the Black Power movement, which had its prominence in American culture when the film was made. She goes on to remark that this created an effective and interesting dynamic between the characters of Lisa and Neville.

Heston wrote in his autobiography, In the Arena, that The Omega Man was the first leading role in a film for actress Rosalind Cash, and that she was understandably "a little edgy" about doing a love scene with Heston. Heston explained, "It was in the seventies that I realized a generation of actors had grown up who saw me in terms of the iconic roles they remembered from their childhoods. 'It's a spooky feeling,' she told me, 'to screw Moses.'"