Gregory Peck
Encyclopedia
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American
actor
.
One of 20th Century Fox
's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch
in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird
, for which he won an Academy Award. President Lyndon Johnson honored Peck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
in 1969 for his lifetime humanitarian efforts. In 1999, the American Film Institute
named Peck among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at #12.
-born Bernice Mae "Bunny" (née Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, who was a chemist and pharmacist. Peck's father was of Armenian (paternal) and Irish (maternal) heritage, and his mother was of Scots (paternal) and English (maternal) ancestry. Peck's father was a Catholic and his mother converted upon marrying his father. Peck's Irish-born paternal grandmother, Catherine Ashe, was related to Thomas Ashe
, who took part in the Easter Rising
fewer than three weeks after Peck's birth and died while on hunger strike
in 1917. Peck's parents divorced by the time he was six years old and he spent the next few years being raised by his maternal grandmother.
Peck was sent to a Roman Catholic military school, St. John's Military Academy, in Los Angeles
at the age of 10. His grandmother died while he was enrolled there, and his father again took over his upbringing. At 14, Peck attended San Diego High School
and lived with his father. When he graduated, he enrolled briefly at San Diego State Teacher's College, (now known as San Diego State University
), joined the track team, took his first theatre and public-speaking courses, and joined the Epsilon Eta fraternity. He stayed for just one academic year, thereafter obtaining admission to his first-choice college, the University of California, Berkeley
. For a short time, he took a job driving a truck for an oil company. In 1936, he declared himself a pre-medical student at Berkeley, and majored in English. Standing 6'3" (1.905m) he rowed on the university crew
.
The Berkeley acting coach decided Peck would be perfect for university theater work. Peck developed an interest in acting and was recruited by Edwin Duerr
, director of the university's Little Theater. He went on to appear in five plays during his senior year. Although his tuition fee was only $26 per year, Peck still struggled to pay, and had to work as a "hasher" (kitchen helper) for the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority in exchange for meals. Peck would later say about Berkeley that, "it was a very special experience for me and three of the greatest years of my life. It woke me up and made me a human being." In 1997 Peck donated $25,000 to the Berkeley crew in honor of his coach, the renowned Ky Ebright
.
to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse
with the legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner
. He was often broke and sometimes slept in Central Park
. He worked at the 1939 World's Fair
and as a tour guide for NBC
's television broadcasting. In 1940, Peck learned more of the acting craft, working in exchange for food, at the Barter Theatre
in Abingdon, VA, appearing in five plays including Family Portrait and On Earth as It Is.
His stage career started in 1941 when he played the secretary in a Katharine Cornell
production of George Bernard Shaw
's play The Doctor's Dilemma. Unfortunately, the play opened in San Francisco just one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor
. He made his Broadway
debut as the lead in Emlyn Williams
' The Morning Star in 1942. His second Broadway performance that year was in The Willow and I with Edward Pawley
. Peck's acting abilities were in high demand during World War II
, since he was exempt from military service owing to a back injury suffered while receiving dance and movement lessons from Martha Graham
as part of his acting training. Twentieth Century Fox claimed he had injured his back while rowing at university, but in Peck's words, "In Hollywood, they didn't think a dance class was macho enough, I guess. I've been trying to straighten out that story for years."
In 1949 Peck co-founded The La Jolla Playhouse, at his birthplace, with Mel Ferrer
and Dorothy McGuire
. This local community theater and landmark (now in a new home at the University of California, San Diego
) still thrives today. It has attracted Hollywood film stars on hiatus both as performers and enthusiastic supporters since its inception.
Peck's first film, Days of Glory, was released in 1944. He was nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Actor
five times, four of which came in his first five years of film acting: for The Keys of the Kingdom
(1944), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement
(1947), and Twelve O'Clock High
(1949).
The Keys of the Kingdom emphasized his stately presence. As the farmer Ezra "Penny" Baxter in The Yearling his good-humored warmth and affection toward the characters playing his son and wife confounded critics who had been insisting he was a lifeless performer. Duel in the Sun (1946) showed his range as an actor in his first "against type" role as a cruel, libidinous gunslinger. Gentleman's Agreement established his power in the "social conscience" genre in a film that took on the deep-seated but subtle antisemitism of mid-century corporate America.Twelve O'Clock High was the first of many successful war films in which Peck embodied the brave, effective, yet human fighting man.
Among his other films were Spellbound
(1945), The Paradine Case
(1947), The Gunfighter
(1950), Moby Dick
(1956), On the Beach
(1959), which brought to life the terrors of global nuclear war, The Guns of Navarone
(1961), and Roman Holiday
(1953), with Audrey Hepburn
in her Oscar
-winning role. Peck and Hepburn were close friends until her death; Peck even introduced her to her first husband, Mel Ferrer
. Peck once again teamed up with director William Wyler
in the epic Western The Big Country
(1958), which he co-produced. Peck won the Academy Award with his fifth nomination, playing Atticus Finch
, a Depression-era lawyer and widowed father, in a film adaptation of the Harper Lee
novel
To Kill a Mockingbird
. Released in 1962 during the height of the US civil rights movement in the South, this movie and his role were Peck's favorites. In 2003 Atticus Finch was named the top film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute
.
Peck served as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in 1967, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute
from 1967 to 1969, Chairman of the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund in 1971, and National Chairman of the American Cancer Society
in 1966. He was a member of the National Council on the Arts from 1964 to 1966.
A physically powerful man, he was known to do a majority of his own fight scenes, rarely using body or stunt doubles. In fact, Robert Mitchum
, his on-screen opponent in Cape Fear
, told about the time Peck once accidentally punched him for real during their final fight scene in the movie, he felt the impact for days afterward. Peck's rare attempts at unsympathetic albeit provocative roles usually fell short. Early on, he played the renegade son in the Western Duel in the Sun and, later in his career, the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in The Boys from Brazil
co-starring Laurence Olivier
.
. He also starred with Christopher Plummer
, Sir John Gielgud, and Barbara Bouchet
in the television film The Scarlet and The Black
, about a real-life Roman Catholic priest in the Vatican
who smuggled Jews and other refugees away from the Nazis
during World War II
.
Peck, Mitchum, and Martin Balsam
all had roles in the 1991 remake of Cape Fear
directed by Martin Scorsese
. All three were in the original 1962 version
. In the remake, Peck played Max Cady's lawyer.
His last prominent film role also came in 1991, in Other People's Money
, directed by Norman Jewison
and based on the stage play of that name. Peck played a business owner trying to save his company against a hostile takeover bid by a Wall Street liquidator played by Danny DeVito
.
Peck retired from active film-making at that point. Like Cary Grant
before him, Peck spent the last few years of his life touring the world doing speaking engagements in which he would show clips from his movies, reminisce, and take questions from the audience. He did come out of retirement for a 1998 miniseries version of one of his most famous films, Moby Dick
, portraying Father Mapple (played by Orson Welles
in the 1956 version), with Patrick Stewart
as Captain Ahab
, the role Peck played in the earlier film.
Peck had been offered the role of Grandpa Joe in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
, but died before he could accept it. David Kelly
was then given the part.
ed for similar activities, Peck signed a letter deploring a House Un-American Activities Committee
investigation of alleged communists in the film industry. President Richard Nixon
placed Peck on his enemies list
due to his liberal
activism.
A lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party, Peck was suggested in 1970 as a possible Democratic candidate to run against Ronald Reagan
for the office of Governor of California
. Although he later admitted that he had no interest in being a candidate himself for public office, Peck encouraged one of his sons, Carey Peck, to run for political office. Carey was defeated both times he tried for Congress, in 1978 and in 1980, by Republican Congressman Robert K. Dornan, both times by slim margins.
In an interview with the Irish media, Peck revealed that former President
Lyndon Johnson had told him that, had he sought re-election in 1968, he intended to offer Peck the post of U.S. ambassador
to Ireland
— a post Peck, due to his Irish ancestry, said he might well have taken, saying "[It] would have been a great adventure". Author Michael Freedland, in his biography of Peck, substantiates the report and says that Johnson indicated that his presentation of the Medal of Freedom to Peck would perhaps make up for his inability to confer the ambassadorship.
Peck was outspoken against the Vietnam War
, while remaining supportive of his son, Stephen, who fought there. In 1972 Peck produced the film version of Daniel Berrigan
's play The Trial of the Catonsville Nine
about the prosecution of a group of Vietnam protesters for civil disobedience. Despite his reservations about American general Douglas MacArthur
as a man, Peck had long wanted to play him on film, and did so in MacArthur
in 1976.
In 1987 Peck did the voice-over on television commercials opposing President Ronald Reagan
's Supreme Court nomination of conservative jurist Robert Bork
. Bork's nomination was defeated. Peck was also a vocal supporter of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
, with whom he had three sons, Jonathan (1944–1975), Stephen (b. 1946), and Carey Paul (b. 1949). They were divorced on December 30, 1955, but maintained a very good relationship. Jonathan Peck, a television news reporter, committed suicide in 1975. Stephen Peck is active in support of American veterans from the Vietnam War
; his first wife is screenwriter Kimi Peck, who co-wrote Little Darlings
with Dalene Young. Carey Peck had political ambitions, running for Congress in California in 1978 and again in 1980 with the support of his father and family. He narrowly lost to conservative Republican Bob Dornan
.
On December 31, 1955, the day after his divorce was finalized, Peck married Veronique Passani, a Paris
news reporter who had interviewed him in 1953 before he went to Italy
to film Roman Holiday
. He asked her to lunch six months later and they became inseparable. They had a son, Anthony, and a daughter Cecilia Peck
. The couple remained married until Gregory Peck's death.
Peck had grandchildren from both marriages. Stephen has a stepdaughter and a son from his third marriage to artist Francine Matarazzo. His stepdaughter Marisa Matarazzo is a fiction writer and her brother Ethan Peck
is an actor. Carey has a daughter Marisa from his marriage to Kathy Peck as well as two stepdaughters, Isabelle and Jasmine, and a son Christopher with artist Lita Albuquerque. Anthony has a son, Zack, from his marriage to model Cheryl Tiegs
. Cecilia has two children with writer Daniel Voll, son Harper and daughter Ondine.
Peck owned the thoroughbred
steeplechase
race horse
Different Class, which raced in England. The horse was favored for the 1968 Grand National
but finished third. Peck was close friends with French president Jacques Chirac
.
Peck was a practicing Roman Catholic, although he disagreed with the Church's positions on abortion and the ordination of women
.
On June 12, 2003, Peck died in his sleep at home from bronchopneumonia
. His wife Veronique was by his side.
Gregory Peck is entombed in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
mausoleum
in Los Angeles, California
. His eulogy was read by Brock Peters
, whose character, Tom Robinson, was defended by Peck's Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird
.
(1945), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement
(1947) and Twelve O'Clock High
(1949). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor
for his role as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird
. In 1968 he received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Peck also received many Golden Globe awards. He won in 1947 for The Yearling, in 1963 for To Kill a Mockingbird
, and in 1999 for the TV mini series Moby Dick. He was nominated in 1978 for The Boys from Brazil
. He received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1969, and was given the Henrietta Award in 1951 and 1955 for World Film Favorite — Male.
In 1969 US President Lyndon Johnson honored Peck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 1971 the Screen Actors Guild
presented Peck with the SAG Life Achievement Award. In 1989 the American Film Institute
gave Peck the AFI Life Achievement Award
. He received the Crystal Globe
award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema in 1996.
In 1986 Peck was honored alongside actress Gene Tierney
with the first Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award
at the San Sebastian Film Festival Spain for their body of work.
In 1993, Peck was awarded with an Honorary Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival
.
In 1998 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
.
In 2000 Peck was made a Doctor of Letters
by the National University of Ireland
. He was a founding patron of the University College Dublin
School of Film, where he persuaded Martin Scorsese
to become an honorary patron. Peck was also chairman of the American Cancer Society
for a short time.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Gregory Peck has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6100 Hollywood Blvd. In November 2005 the star was stolen, and has since been replaced.
On April 28, 2011, a ceremony was held in Beverly Hills, California
celebrating the first day of issue
of a U.S. postage stamp commemorating Peck. The stamp is the 17th commemorative stamp in the Legends of Hollywood
series.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
One of 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch and Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Atticus is a central character in the novel...
in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
, for which he won an Academy Award. President Lyndon Johnson honored Peck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
in 1969 for his lifetime humanitarian efforts. In 1999, the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
named Peck among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at #12.
Early life
Eldred Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla, California, the son of MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
-born Bernice Mae "Bunny" (née Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, who was a chemist and pharmacist. Peck's father was of Armenian (paternal) and Irish (maternal) heritage, and his mother was of Scots (paternal) and English (maternal) ancestry. Peck's father was a Catholic and his mother converted upon marrying his father. Peck's Irish-born paternal grandmother, Catherine Ashe, was related to Thomas Ashe
Thomas Ashe
Thomas Patrick Ashe born in Lispole, County Kerry, Ireland, was a member of the Gaelic League, the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers...
, who took part in the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
fewer than three weeks after Peck's birth and died while on hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
in 1917. Peck's parents divorced by the time he was six years old and he spent the next few years being raised by his maternal grandmother.
Peck was sent to a Roman Catholic military school, St. John's Military Academy, in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
at the age of 10. His grandmother died while he was enrolled there, and his father again took over his upbringing. At 14, Peck attended San Diego High School
San Diego High School
San Diego High School is an urban public educational complex comprising six small schools located on the southern edge of Balboa Park, in San Diego, California. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District. It is the oldest high school in the San Diego Unified School District and one of the...
and lived with his father. When he graduated, he enrolled briefly at San Diego State Teacher's College, (now known as San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
), joined the track team, took his first theatre and public-speaking courses, and joined the Epsilon Eta fraternity. He stayed for just one academic year, thereafter obtaining admission to his first-choice college, the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. For a short time, he took a job driving a truck for an oil company. In 1936, he declared himself a pre-medical student at Berkeley, and majored in English. Standing 6'3" (1.905m) he rowed on the university crew
College rowing (United States)
Rowing is one of the oldest intercollegiate sports in the United States. However, rowers comprise only 2.2% of total college athletes. This may be in part because of the status of rowing as an amateur sport and because not all universities have access to suitable bodies of water. In the 2002-03...
.
The Berkeley acting coach decided Peck would be perfect for university theater work. Peck developed an interest in acting and was recruited by Edwin Duerr
Edwin Duerr
Edwin Duerr was a theater and radio director. He was director of the Little Theater at University of California, Berkeley when he discovered Gregory Peck. He wrote the books The Length and Depth of Acting and Radio and Television Acting: Criticism, Theory and Practice.- References :* * *...
, director of the university's Little Theater. He went on to appear in five plays during his senior year. Although his tuition fee was only $26 per year, Peck still struggled to pay, and had to work as a "hasher" (kitchen helper) for the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority in exchange for meals. Peck would later say about Berkeley that, "it was a very special experience for me and three of the greatest years of my life. It woke me up and made me a human being." In 1997 Peck donated $25,000 to the Berkeley crew in honor of his coach, the renowned Ky Ebright
Ky Ebright
Carroll M. Ebright , better known as Ky Ebright was a legendary coach for the University of California, Berkeley crew team. He is the only man to coach three Olympic gold medal-winning eight-oared boats. He coached the Cal Men's crew from 1924 through 1959...
.
Stage
After graduating from Berkeley with a BA degree in English, Peck dropped the name "Eldred" and headed to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse
Neighborhood Playhouse
The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school at 340 East 54th Street in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
with the legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
. He was often broke and sometimes slept in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. He worked at the 1939 World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
and as a tour guide for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's television broadcasting. In 1940, Peck learned more of the acting craft, working in exchange for food, at the Barter Theatre
Barter Theatre
Barter Theatre, located in Abingdon, Virginia, opened on June 10, 1933. It is one of the longest running professional theatres in the nation. In 1933, when the country was in the middle of the Great Depression, most patrons were not able to pay the full ticket price...
in Abingdon, VA, appearing in five plays including Family Portrait and On Earth as It Is.
His stage career started in 1941 when he played the secretary in a Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century...
production of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's play The Doctor's Dilemma. Unfortunately, the play opened in San Francisco just one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. He made his Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut as the lead in Emlyn Williams
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE , known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor.-Biography:He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family in Mostyn, Flintshire....
' The Morning Star in 1942. His second Broadway performance that year was in The Willow and I with Edward Pawley
Edward Pawley
Edward Joel Pawley was an American actor of radio, films and Broadway. The full name on his birth certificate is Edward Joel Stone Pawley, however, he never used the Stone name. It derived from a Stone family in Illinois.At maturity, Pawley was 5'-10" tall with thick black hair and blue eyes...
. Peck's acting abilities were in high demand during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, since he was exempt from military service owing to a back injury suffered while receiving dance and movement lessons from Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
as part of his acting training. Twentieth Century Fox claimed he had injured his back while rowing at university, but in Peck's words, "In Hollywood, they didn't think a dance class was macho enough, I guess. I've been trying to straighten out that story for years."
In 1949 Peck co-founded The La Jolla Playhouse, at his birthplace, with Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....
and Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress.-Career:Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse...
. This local community theater and landmark (now in a new home at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
) still thrives today. It has attracted Hollywood film stars on hiatus both as performers and enthusiastic supporters since its inception.
Film
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
five times, four of which came in his first five years of film acting: for The Keys of the Kingdom
The Keys of the Kingdom (film)
The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1944 American film based on the 1941 novel, The Keys of the Kingdom, by A. J. Cronin. The movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson, directed by John M. Stahl and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It stars Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Edmund...
(1944), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement
Gentleman's Agreement
Gentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to conduct research for an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut...
(1947), and Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King ...
(1949).
The Keys of the Kingdom emphasized his stately presence. As the farmer Ezra "Penny" Baxter in The Yearling his good-humored warmth and affection toward the characters playing his son and wife confounded critics who had been insisting he was a lifeless performer. Duel in the Sun (1946) showed his range as an actor in his first "against type" role as a cruel, libidinous gunslinger. Gentleman's Agreement established his power in the "social conscience" genre in a film that took on the deep-seated but subtle antisemitism of mid-century corporate America.Twelve O'Clock High was the first of many successful war films in which Peck embodied the brave, effective, yet human fighting man.
Among his other films were Spellbound
Spellbound (1945 film)
Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus...
(1945), The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens...
(1947), The Gunfighter
The Gunfighter
The Gunfighter is a 1950 western film starring Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell and Karl Malden . This film was directed by Henry King...
(1950), Moby Dick
Moby Dick (1956 film)
Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Ray Bradbury and the director. The film starred Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, and Leo Genn...
(1956), On the Beach
On the Beach (1959 film)
On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins...
(1959), which brought to life the terrors of global nuclear war, The Guns of Navarone
The Guns of Navarone (film)
The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley...
(1961), and Roman Holiday
Roman Holiday
Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him...
(1953), with Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
in her Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning role. Peck and Hepburn were close friends until her death; Peck even introduced her to her first husband, Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....
. Peck once again teamed up with director William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
in the epic Western The Big Country
The Big Country
Meanwhile, Terrill insists on riding into the canyon. Initially, Leech refuses to accompany him, and the other men follow his lead. However, after Terrill rides out alone, Leech catches up with him. The remaining hands again align themselves with Leech by following. The group soon rides into a trap...
(1958), which he co-produced. Peck won the Academy Award with his fifth nomination, playing Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch and Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Atticus is a central character in the novel...
, a Depression-era lawyer and widowed father, in a film adaptation of the Harper Lee
Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...
. Released in 1962 during the height of the US civil rights movement in the South, this movie and his role were Peck's favorites. In 2003 Atticus Finch was named the top film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
.
Peck served as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
in 1967, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
from 1967 to 1969, Chairman of the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund in 1971, and National Chairman of the American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
in 1966. He was a member of the National Council on the Arts from 1964 to 1966.
A physically powerful man, he was known to do a majority of his own fight scenes, rarely using body or stunt doubles. In fact, Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
, his on-screen opponent in Cape Fear
Cape Fear (1962 film)
Cape Fear is a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Polly Bergen. It was adapted by James R. Webb from the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and released on April 12, 1962...
, told about the time Peck once accidentally punched him for real during their final fight scene in the movie, he felt the impact for days afterward. Peck's rare attempts at unsympathetic albeit provocative roles usually fell short. Early on, he played the renegade son in the Western Duel in the Sun and, later in his career, the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in The Boys from Brazil
The Boys from Brazil (film)
The Boys from Brazil is a 1978 British/American science fiction/thriller film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It stars Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, with James Mason, Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen and Steve Guttenberg in supporting roles...
co-starring Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
.
Later work
In the 1980s Peck moved to television, where he starred in the mini-series The Blue and the Gray, playing Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. He also starred with Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
, Sir John Gielgud, and Barbara Bouchet
Barbara Bouchet
Barbara Bouchet, is a German-American actress and entrepreneur.She has acted in more than 80 films and television episodes and founded a production company that has produced fitness videos and books as well as owning a fitness studio...
in the television film The Scarlet and The Black
The Scarlet and the Black
The Scarlet and the Black is a 1983 made for TV movie starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer. This production should not be confused with the 1993 British television mini series Scarlet and Black, which starred Ewan McGregor and Rachel Weisz....
, about a real-life Roman Catholic priest in the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
who smuggled Jews and other refugees away from the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.- Early life :...
all had roles in the 1991 remake of Cape Fear
Cape Fear (1991 film)
Cape Fear is a 1991 thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and a remake of the 1962 film of the same name. It stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis and features cameos from Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam, who all appeared in the 1962 original film...
directed by Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
. All three were in the original 1962 version
Cape Fear (1962 film)
Cape Fear is a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Polly Bergen. It was adapted by James R. Webb from the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and released on April 12, 1962...
. In the remake, Peck played Max Cady's lawyer.
His last prominent film role also came in 1991, in Other People's Money
Other People's Money
Other People's Money is a 1991 drama/romantic comedy film starring Danny DeVito, Penelope Ann Miller and Gregory Peck. It is based on the play of the same name by Jerry Sterner. The director was Norman Jewison and the screenplay was credited to Alvin Sargent.-Plot:Corporate raider Lawrence...
, directed by Norman Jewison
Norman Jewison
Norman Frederick Jewison, CC, O.Ont is a Canadian film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. Highlights of his directing career include In the Heat of the Night , The Thomas Crown Affair , Fiddler on the Roof , Jesus Christ Superstar , Moonstruck , The Hurricane and The...
and based on the stage play of that name. Peck played a business owner trying to save his company against a hostile takeover bid by a Wall Street liquidator played by Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
.
Peck retired from active film-making at that point. Like Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
before him, Peck spent the last few years of his life touring the world doing speaking engagements in which he would show clips from his movies, reminisce, and take questions from the audience. He did come out of retirement for a 1998 miniseries version of one of his most famous films, Moby Dick
Moby Dick (1956 film)
Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Ray Bradbury and the director. The film starred Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, and Leo Genn...
, portraying Father Mapple (played by Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
in the 1956 version), with Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
as Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab may refer to:* Ahab , the captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick* Captain Ahab , a Los Angeles based pop/electronic band...
, the role Peck played in the earlier film.
Peck had been offered the role of Grandpa Joe in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 2005 film adaptation of the 1964 book of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film was directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket and Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka...
, but died before he could accept it. David Kelly
David Kelly (actor)
David Kelly is an Irish actor, who has been in regular film and television work since the 1950s.-Acting career:Playing everything from Beckett to Shakespeare, he has appeared in Theatre, TV and film constantly since 1959...
was then given the part.
Politics
In 1947, while many Hollywood figures were being blacklistBlacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed for similar activities, Peck signed a letter deploring a House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
investigation of alleged communists in the film industry. President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
placed Peck on his enemies list
Master list of Nixon political opponents
A master list of Nixon political opponents was compiled to supplement the original Nixon's Enemies List of 20 key people considered opponents of President Richard Nixon. The master list was compiled by Charles Colson's office and sent in memorandum form to John Dean. Dean later provided this...
due to his liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
activism.
A lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party, Peck was suggested in 1970 as a possible Democratic candidate to run against Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
for the office of Governor of California
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
. Although he later admitted that he had no interest in being a candidate himself for public office, Peck encouraged one of his sons, Carey Peck, to run for political office. Carey was defeated both times he tried for Congress, in 1978 and in 1980, by Republican Congressman Robert K. Dornan, both times by slim margins.
In an interview with the Irish media, Peck revealed that former President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Lyndon Johnson had told him that, had he sought re-election in 1968, he intended to offer Peck the post of U.S. ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
— a post Peck, due to his Irish ancestry, said he might well have taken, saying "[It] would have been a great adventure". Author Michael Freedland, in his biography of Peck, substantiates the report and says that Johnson indicated that his presentation of the Medal of Freedom to Peck would perhaps make up for his inability to confer the ambassadorship.
Peck was outspoken against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, while remaining supportive of his son, Stephen, who fought there. In 1972 Peck produced the film version of Daniel Berrigan
Daniel Berrigan
Daniel Berrigan, SJ is an American Catholic priest, peace activist, and poet. Daniel and his brother Philip were for a time on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for their involvement in antiwar protests during the Vietnam war....
's play The Trial of the Catonsville Nine
Catonsville Nine
The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968 they went to the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, took 378 draft files, brought them to the parking lot in wire baskets, dumped them out, poured homemade napalm over them, and...
about the prosecution of a group of Vietnam protesters for civil disobedience. Despite his reservations about American general Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
as a man, Peck had long wanted to play him on film, and did so in MacArthur
MacArthur (film)
MacArthur is a 1977 American biographical war film directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Gregory Peck in the eponymous role as American General Douglas MacArthur.-Plot:...
in 1976.
In 1987 Peck did the voice-over on television commercials opposing President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's Supreme Court nomination of conservative jurist Robert Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
. Bork's nomination was defeated. Peck was also a vocal supporter of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
Personal life
In October 1942 Peck married Finnish-born Greta KukkonenGreta Kukkonen
Greta Peck was a Finnish-American real estate broker and first wife of Hollywood actor Gregory Peck. Her first husband was Charles Rice.The Kukkonen family emigrated to the United States in 1913...
, with whom he had three sons, Jonathan (1944–1975), Stephen (b. 1946), and Carey Paul (b. 1949). They were divorced on December 30, 1955, but maintained a very good relationship. Jonathan Peck, a television news reporter, committed suicide in 1975. Stephen Peck is active in support of American veterans from the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
; his first wife is screenwriter Kimi Peck, who co-wrote Little Darlings
Little Darlings
Little Darlings is a 1980 teen film starring Tatum O'Neal, Kristy McNichol, Matt Dillon and Armand Assante, directed by Ronald F. Maxwell.The screenplay is written by Kimi Peck and Dalene Young. The original music score is composed by Charles Fox...
with Dalene Young. Carey Peck had political ambitions, running for Congress in California in 1978 and again in 1980 with the support of his father and family. He narrowly lost to conservative Republican Bob Dornan
Bob Dornan
Robert Kenneth "Bob" Dornan is a Republican and former member of the United States House of Representatives from California and a vocal advocate of pro-life and social conservative causes....
.
On December 31, 1955, the day after his divorce was finalized, Peck married Veronique Passani, a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
news reporter who had interviewed him in 1953 before he went to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to film Roman Holiday
Roman Holiday
Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him...
. He asked her to lunch six months later and they became inseparable. They had a son, Anthony, and a daughter Cecilia Peck
Cecilia Peck
Cecilia Peck is a film producer, director, and actress. Cecilia is the daughter of actor Gregory Peck and his second wife Veronique Passani.-Personal life:...
. The couple remained married until Gregory Peck's death.
Peck had grandchildren from both marriages. Stephen has a stepdaughter and a son from his third marriage to artist Francine Matarazzo. His stepdaughter Marisa Matarazzo is a fiction writer and her brother Ethan Peck
Ethan Peck
Ethan Gregory Peck is an American actor. He is best known for his work in the ABC Family network television series 10 Things I Hate About You, where he portrayed Patrick Verona, a role originated by Heath Ledger in the movie of the same name...
is an actor. Carey has a daughter Marisa from his marriage to Kathy Peck as well as two stepdaughters, Isabelle and Jasmine, and a son Christopher with artist Lita Albuquerque. Anthony has a son, Zack, from his marriage to model Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...
. Cecilia has two children with writer Daniel Voll, son Harper and daughter Ondine.
Peck owned the thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
steeplechase
Steeplechase (horse racing)
The steeplechase is a form of horse racing and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside...
race horse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
Different Class, which raced in England. The horse was favored for the 1968 Grand National
Grand National
The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...
but finished third. Peck was close friends with French president Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
.
Peck was a practicing Roman Catholic, although he disagreed with the Church's positions on abortion and the ordination of women
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
.
Death
Bronchopneumonia
Bronchopneumonia or bronchial pneumonia or "Bronchogenic pneumonia" is the acute inflammation of the walls of the bronchioles...
. His wife Veronique was by his side.
Gregory Peck is entombed in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, also called "COLA" and the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California, United States...
mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. His eulogy was read by Brock Peters
Brock Peters
Brock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
, whose character, Tom Robinson, was defended by Peck's Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
.
Awards and honors
Peck was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning once. He was nominated for The Keys of the KingdomThe Keys of the Kingdom (film)
The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1944 American film based on the 1941 novel, The Keys of the Kingdom, by A. J. Cronin. The movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson, directed by John M. Stahl and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It stars Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Edmund...
(1945), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement
Gentleman's Agreement
Gentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to conduct research for an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut...
(1947) and Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King ...
(1949). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for his role as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
. In 1968 he received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Peck also received many Golden Globe awards. He won in 1947 for The Yearling, in 1963 for To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
, and in 1999 for the TV mini series Moby Dick. He was nominated in 1978 for The Boys from Brazil
The Boys from Brazil (film)
The Boys from Brazil is a 1978 British/American science fiction/thriller film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It stars Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, with James Mason, Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen and Steve Guttenberg in supporting roles...
. He received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1969, and was given the Henrietta Award in 1951 and 1955 for World Film Favorite — Male.
In 1969 US President Lyndon Johnson honored Peck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
, the nation's highest civilian honor. In 1971 the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
presented Peck with the SAG Life Achievement Award. In 1989 the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
gave Peck the AFI Life Achievement Award
AFI Life Achievement Award
The AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute on February 26, 1973 to honor a single individual for his or her lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion pictures and television....
. He received the Crystal Globe
Crystal Globe
Crystal Globe is the main award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, first given in the city of Karlovy Vary of the Czech Republic, in 1948.In the international competition of films, IFFKV presents the following awards:...
award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema in 1996.
In 1986 Peck was honored alongside actress Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
with the first Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award
Donostia Award
The Donostia Award is an honorific award given every year to one, two or three actors in the San Sebastián International Film Festival. It was created in 1986.-Award winners:*2011: Glenn Close.*2010: Julia Roberts.*2009: Ian McKellen....
at the San Sebastian Film Festival Spain for their body of work.
In 1993, Peck was awarded with an Honorary Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival
43rd Berlin International Film Festival
The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 11 to 22, 1993.-Jury:* Frank Beyer * Juan Antonio Bardem* Michel Boujut* François Duplat* Katinka Faragó* Krystyna Janda* Naum Kleiman* Brock Peters...
.
In 1998 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
.
In 2000 Peck was made a Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
by the National University of Ireland
National University of Ireland
The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...
. He was a founding patron of the University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
School of Film, where he persuaded Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
to become an honorary patron. Peck was also chairman of the American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
for a short time.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Gregory Peck has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6100 Hollywood Blvd. In November 2005 the star was stolen, and has since been replaced.
On April 28, 2011, a ceremony was held in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
celebrating the first day of issue
First day of issue
A First Day of Issue Cover or First Day Cover is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority. Sometimes the issue is made from a temporary or permanent foreign or...
of a U.S. postage stamp commemorating Peck. The stamp is the 17th commemorative stamp in the Legends of Hollywood
Legends of Hollywood
Legends of Hollywood is a stamp series issued by the United States Postal Service, annually honoring a person with a distinguished career in the American film industry. The First class stamps are sold by the sheet for a limited time. The popularity of the series has helped to reduce the overall...
series.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Days of Glory | Vladimir | |
| The Keys of the Kingdom The Keys of the Kingdom (film) The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1944 American film based on the 1941 novel, The Keys of the Kingdom, by A. J. Cronin. The movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson, directed by John M. Stahl and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It stars Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Edmund... |
Father Francis Chisholm | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role | |
| 1945 | The Valley of Decision The Valley of Decision The Valley of Decision is a film set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA in the late 19th century. It tells the story of a young Irish house maid who falls in love with the son of her employer, a local steel mill owner... |
Paul Scott | |
| Spellbound Spellbound (1945 film) Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus... |
John Ballantyne | ||
| 1946 | The Yearling | Ezra "Penny" Baxter | Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role |
| Duel in the Sun | Lewton 'Lewt' McCanles | ||
| 1947 | The Macomber Affair The Macomber Affair The Macomber Affair is a 1947 in filmZ1947 psychological drama set in British East Africa concerning a fatal triangle of a frustrated wife, a weak husband, and the professional hunter who comes between them. The film was distributed by United Artists, directed by Zoltan Korda, and starring by... |
Robert Wilson | |
| Gentleman's Agreement Gentleman's Agreement Gentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to conduct research for an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut... |
Philip Schuyler Green | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role | |
| The Paradine Case The Paradine Case The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens... |
Anthony Keane | ||
| 1949 | Yellow Sky Yellow Sky Yellow Sky is an American western film directed by William A. Wellman. The story is believed to be loosely adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest. A band of outlaws flee after a bank robbery and encounter an old man and his granddaughter in a ghost town.-Plot:In 1867, a gang led by James... |
James 'Stretch' Dawson | |
| The Great Sinner The Great Sinner The Great Sinner is a 1949 American drama film directed by Robert Siodmak. Based on the 1866 short novel The Gambler written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the film stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Frank Morgan, Ethel Barrymore, Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead and Melvyn Douglas.-Plot:During the 1860s in... |
Fedja | ||
| Twelve O'Clock High Twelve O'Clock High Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King ... |
Gen. Frank Savage | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role | |
| 1950 | The Gunfighter The Gunfighter The Gunfighter is a 1950 western film starring Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell and Karl Malden . This film was directed by Henry King... |
Jimmy Ringo | |
| 1951 | Captain Horatio Hornblower Captain Horatio Hornblower Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. is a 1951 naval adventure film. It was directed by Raoul Walsh and stars Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty and Terence Morgan.It was based upon three of C. S... |
Captain Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester. He was later the subject of films and television programs.The original Hornblower tales began with the 1937 novel The Happy Return Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy... |
|
| Only the Valiant Only the Valiant Only the Valiant is a 1951 western film produced by William Cagney , directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Gregory Peck and Barbara Payton. The screenplay was written by Edmund H... |
Captain Richard Lance | ||
| Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards | Short subject | ||
| David and Bathsheba David and Bathsheba David and Bathsheba is a 1951 historical Technicolor epic film about King David made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Henry King, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Philip Dunne. The music score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography by Leon Shamroy... |
King David | ||
| Pictura: An Adventure in Art | Narrator | Documentary | |
| 1952 | The Snows of Kilimanjaro | Harry Street | |
| The World in His Arms The World in His Arms The World in His Arms is a 1952 seafaring adventure film made by Universal International Pictures. It was directed by Raoul Walsh and produced byAaron Rosenberg from a screenplay by Borden Chase and Horace McCoy, based on the novel by Rex Beach... |
Capt. Jonathan Clark | ||
| 1953 | The Million Pound Note The Million Pound Note The Million Pound Note is a 1954 British comedy, directed by Ronald Neame and starring Gregory Peck... |
Henry Adams | |
| Roman Holiday Roman Holiday Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him... |
Joe Bradley | Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:... |
|
| 1954 | Night People Night People (1954 film) Night People is a 1954 motion picture drama starring Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Bjork and Buddy Ebsen, directed by Nunnally Johnson. It was co-written by Jed Harris, a noted theatrical producer.... |
Col. Steve Van Dyke | |
| The Purple Plain The Purple Plain The Purple Plain is a 1954 British war film, directed by Robert Parrish, with Gregory Peck playing a Canadian pilot serving in the Royal Air Force in Burma in the closing months of the World War II, who is battling with depression after having lost his wife... |
Squadron Leader Bill Forrester | ||
| 1956 | The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, by Sloan Wilson, is a 1955 novel about the American search for purpose in a world dominated by business. Tom and Betsy Rath share a struggle to find contentment in their hectic and material culture while several other characters fight essentially the same battle,... |
Tom Rath | |
| Moby Dick Moby Dick (1956 film) Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Ray Bradbury and the director. The film starred Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, and Leo Genn... |
Captain Ahab | ||
| 1957 | Designing Woman Designing Woman Designing Woman is a 1957 romantic comedy about fashion. Vincente Minnelli directed stars Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck. George Wells won an Academy Award for the screenplay.-Plot:... |
Mike Hagen | |
| 1958 | The Hidden World The Hidden World The Hidden World is a 1958 American documentary film produced by Robert Snyder. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.... |
Narrator | Documentary |
| The Bravados The Bravados The Bravados is a 1958 western film , directed by Henry King starring Gregory Peck and Joan Collins. The CinemaScope film was based on a novel of the same name written by Frank O'Rourke.-Plot:... |
Jim Douglass | ||
| The Big Country The Big Country Meanwhile, Terrill insists on riding into the canyon. Initially, Leech refuses to accompany him, and the other men follow his lead. However, after Terrill rides out alone, Leech catches up with him. The remaining hands again align themselves with Leech by following. The group soon rides into a trap... |
James McKay | Also producer | |
| 1959 | Pork Chop Hill Pork Chop Hill Pork Chop Hill , directed by Lewis Milestone, is a Korean War war film based upon the eponymous book by military historian S. L. A. Marshall, depicting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill between the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, and Chinese and Korean Communist forces at the... |
Lieutenant Joe Clemons Joseph G. Clemons Colonel Joseph G. Clemons, Jr., United States Army was the First Lieutenant of Company K, 31st Infantry during the Korean War and led the counterattack on Pork Chop Hill. He was portrayed by Gregory Peck in the 1959 movie Pork Chop Hill and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism... |
|
| Beloved Infidel | F. Scott Fitzgerald | ||
| On the Beach On the Beach (1959 film) On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins... |
Cmdr. Dwight Lionel Towers, USS Sawfish | ||
| 1961 | The Guns of Navarone The Guns of Navarone (film) The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley... |
Capt. Keith Mallory | |
| 1962 | Cape Fear Cape Fear (1962 film) Cape Fear is a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Polly Bergen. It was adapted by James R. Webb from the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and released on April 12, 1962... |
Sam Bowden | |
| Lykke og krone | Documentary | ||
| How the West Was Won How the West Was Won (film) How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film. The picture was one of the last "old-fashioned" epic films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to enjoy great success. It follows four generations of a family as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean... |
Cleve Van Valen | ||
| To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird (film) To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch.... |
Atticus Finch Atticus Finch Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch and Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Atticus is a central character in the novel... |
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:... |
|
| 1963 | Captain Newman, M.D. Captain Newman, M.D. Captain Newman, M.D. is a 1963 film starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert and Bobby Darin. It was directed by David Miller and filmed on location at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.... |
Capt. Josiah J. Newman, MD | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1964 | Behold a Pale Horse Behold a Pale Horse (film) Behold a Pale Horse is a 1964 film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn. The film is based on the novel Killing a Mouse on Sunday by Emeric Pressburger, which loosely details the life of the Spanish anarchist guerrilla, Francisco Sabaté Llopart. The... |
Manuel Artiguez | |
| 1965 | Mirage | David Stillwell | |
| 1966 | John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums is a ninety-minute filmed memorial tribute to President John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated on November 22, 1963. It was completed in 1964, and released to theatres by Embassy Pictures in 1966... |
Narrator | Documentary |
| Arabesque Arabesque (film) Arabesque is a 1966 thriller starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren. The movie is based on Gordon Cotler's novel The Cypher and directed by Stanley Donen.-Plot:Professor David Pollock is an expert in ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford University... |
Prof. David Pollock | ||
| 1967 | Pähkähullu Suomi Pähkähullu Suomi Pähkähullu Suomi is a 1967 comedy by Spede Pasanen. It is occasionally cited as one of the best sources for his abstract sense of humour since the film has very little in the sense of plot and is more of a montage of various events... |
Cameo | |
| 1969 | The Stalking Moon The Stalking Moon The Stalking Moon is a 1968 western film in Technicolor starring Gregory Peck and Eva Marie Saint. It is directed by Robert Mulligan and based on the novel of the same name by T.V. Olsen.-Plot:... |
Sam Varner | |
| Mackenna's Gold Mackenna's Gold Mackenna's Gold is a 1969 western film directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, and Julie Newmar... |
MacKenna | ||
| The Chairman The Chairman The Chairman is a 1969 spy film starring Gregory Peck. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson. The screenplay was by Ben Maddow, based on a novel by Jay Richard Kennedy.-Plot:... |
John Hathaway | ||
| Marooned Marooned (film) Marooned is a 1969 American film directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, and Gene Hackman.... |
Charles Keith | ||
| 1970 | I Walk the Line I Walk the Line (film) I Walk the Line is a 1970 film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Gregory Peck and Tuesday Weld. The film is the story of Sheriff Henry Tawes who develops a relationship with town girl Alma McCain .... |
Sheriff Tawes | |
| 1971 | Shoot Out Shoot Out Shoot Out is a 1971 western film directed by Henry Hathaway. It stars Gregory Peck and Patricia Quinn.This was the second-to-last of the 65 films directed by Hathaway.-Plot:Clay Lomax gets out of prison after serving nearly eight years... |
Clay Lomax | |
| 1974 | Billy Two Hats Billy Two Hats Billy Two Hats is a 1974 Western film directed by Ted Kotcheff. It stars Gregory Peck, Jack Warden and Desi Arnaz, Jr.Filmed on an Israel location, Billy Two Hats is from a script by Scottish writer Alan Sharp, the screenwriter of Rob Roy and Ulzana's Raid.-Plot:During a bank robbery in the... |
Arch Deans | |
| The Dove The Dove (1974 film) The Dove is a 1974 American biographical film directed by Charles Jarrott. The picture was produced by Gregory Peck, the third and last feature film he would produce.... |
Producer | ||
| 1976 | The Omen The Omen An original score for the film, including the movie's theme song Ave Satani, was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his long career. The score features a strong choral segment, with a foreboding Latin chant... |
Robert Thorn | |
| 1977 | MacArthur MacArthur (film) MacArthur is a 1977 American biographical war film directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Gregory Peck in the eponymous role as American General Douglas MacArthur.-Plot:... |
General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the... |
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1978 | The Boys from Brazil The Boys from Brazil (film) The Boys from Brazil is a 1978 British/American science fiction/thriller film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It stars Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, with James Mason, Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen and Steve Guttenberg in supporting roles... |
Josef Mengele Josef Mengele Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University... |
Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1980 | The Sea Wolves: The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse | Col. Lewis Pugh | |
| 1982 | The Blue and the Gray | Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and... |
|
| 1983 | The Scarlet and the Black The Scarlet and the Black The Scarlet and the Black is a 1983 made for TV movie starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer. This production should not be confused with the 1993 British television mini series Scarlet and Black, which starred Ewan McGregor and Rachel Weisz.... |
Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty Hugh O'Flaherty Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, CBE was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and senior official of the Roman Curia. During World War II, he was responsible for saving 6,500 Allied soldiers and Jews... |
|
| 1984 | Terror in the Aisles Terror in the Aisles Terror in the Aisles is a 1984 documentary film about horror films featuring clips from Friday the 13th I and/or II, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween I and II, Jaws 1 and 2, Alien, John Carpenter's The Thing, The Shining and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and The Birds. The film is hosted by... |
Documentary. Archival footage. | |
| 1985 | Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret | Documentary | |
| 1986 | Directed by William Wyler | Documentary | |
| 1987 | Amazing Grace and Chuck Amazing Grace and Chuck Amazing Grace and Chuck is a 1987 film starring Gregory Peck, Jamie Lee Curtis and William Petersen.-Plot:Chuck Murdock, a 12-year-old boy from Montana and son of a military jet pilot, becomes anxious after seeing a Minuteman missile on a school field trip... |
President | Documentary |
| 1989 | Old Gringo Old Gringo Old Gringo is a 1989 film directed by Luis Puenzo and co-written with Aída Bortnik, based on the novel Gringo Viejo by Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes.The film stars Jane Fonda, Gregory Peck, and Jimmy Smits.... |
Ambrose Bierce | |
| Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren is a 1989 documentary film directed by Bill Jersey about Chief Justice Earl Warren. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The cast included Gregory Peck, Robert Bork, William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and Arthur Miller.... |
Narrator | Documentary | |
| 1991 | Other People's Money Other People's Money Other People's Money is a 1991 drama/romantic comedy film starring Danny DeVito, Penelope Ann Miller and Gregory Peck. It is based on the play of the same name by Jerry Sterner. The director was Norman Jewison and the screenplay was credited to Alvin Sargent.-Plot:Corporate raider Lawrence... |
Andrew Jorgenson | |
| Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days is a documentary of American Western artist Frederic Remington made for the PBS series American Masters and produced and directed by Tom Neff It was written by Neff and Louise LeQuire... |
Narrator | Documentary | |
| Cape Fear Cape Fear (1991 film) Cape Fear is a 1991 thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and a remake of the 1962 film of the same name. It stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis and features cameos from Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam, who all appeared in the 1962 original film... |
Lee Heller | ||
| 1993 | The Portrait The Portrait (1993 film) The Portrait is a 1993 Television film starring Academy Award Winner Gregory Peck.- Plot :Artist Margaret Church returns to her parents home to create a portrait of them. Margaret is shocked to discover that her parents have decided to sell their home, and she has trouble accepting the loss of her... |
Gardner Church | |
| 1994 | L'Hidato Shel Adolf Eichmann | Narrator | Documentary |
| 1996 | Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick | Documentary | |
| 1998 | Moby Dick Moby Dick (1998 miniseries) Moby Dick is a television miniseries based on Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name, filmed in Australia in 1997 and first released in the United States in 1998.-Cast and crew:... |
Father Mapple | TV Miniseries Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1999 | The Art of Norton Simon | Narrator | Short subject |
| American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith | Narrator | ||
| 2000 | A Conversation With Gregory Peck A Conversation With Gregory Peck A Conversation With Gregory Peck is a 1999 film directed by documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Kopple followed the actor as he embarked on a live speaking tour throughout the United States reflecting on his life and career... |
Himself | Documentary |
Further reading
- Fishgall, Gary. Gregory Peck: A Biography. New York: ScribnerCharles Scribner's SonsCharles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...
. 2002. ISBN 068485290X - Freedland, Michael. Gregory Peck: A Biography. New York: William Morrow and CompanyWilliam Morrow and CompanyWilliam Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, and sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981. It was sold along to the News Corporation in 1999...
. 1980. ISBN 0688036198 - Haney, LynnLynn HaneyLynn Haney is an American biographer. Haney recounted the lives of people such as Josephine Baker and Gregory Peck. Haney is recognized for her balance of thorough research and respect for the subjects of her books, as demonstrated in both Naked At the Feast and A Charmed Life...
. Gregory Peck: A Charmed Life. New York: Carroll & Graf PublishersCarroll & Graf PublishersCarroll & Graf Publishers, an American publishing company centered in New York City, was an imprint of the Avalon Publishing Group,Publisher Kent Carroll, the editorial director of Grove Press from 1975 to 1981, co-founded Carroll & Graf in 1982...
. 2004. ISBN 0786714735
External links
- Gregory Peck - Daily Telegraph obituary
- Gregory Peck in the 1920 US Census, 1930 US Census, and the Social Security Death Index.