Born in La Jolla, California, in 1916, Gregory Peck studied pre-med at the University of California, Berkeley. He began acting while in college, and soon after moved to New York to further his interest. After several best actor nominations, Peck eventually won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. He also starred opposite Audrey Hepburn in her debut in Roman Holiday, as well as many other notable films during his length career.
While earning his living working various odd jobs around New York City, in 1942 Peck made his Broadway debut in The Morning Star. Though the production was not well received by audiences, Peck earned critical acclaim for his acting and his career began to blossom. Peck also married for the first time, to Greta Kukkonen, with whom he would have three children before their divorce in 1954.
In 1944, Peck landed a role in his first Hollywood film, Days of Glory, playing a Russian guerrilla fighter. His fame grew following the film’s release and continued to flourish later that year, with The Keys of the Kingdom, in which he played a missionary priest and earned his first in a flurry of Academy Award nominations. For his performance as a veteran of the Civil War in The Yearling (1946), Peck received his second Oscar nod, followed by a 1948 best-actor nomination for his portrayal of Philip Schuyler Green in Elia Kazan’s Gentleman’s Agreement, a film about a reporter who pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism.
Activism and Recognition
When he wasn’t acting, Peck put his energy toward civic, charitable and political efforts, serving as chairman of the American Cancer Society, a board trustee for the American Film Institute and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among other endeavors.
In 1969, President Lyndon Johnson awarded Peck the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his humanitarian efforts, and in 1991 he received Kennedy Center honors. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
On June 12, 2003, Peck died from bronchopneumonia while asleep at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87 years old. He was survived by his wife of nearly 49 years, Veronique Passani (they were married on December 31, 1955), and their two children, Anthony and Cecilia, as well as his children from his first marriage, Stephen and Carey. His son Jonathan predeceased him 1975.
Gregory Peck 1916-2003.
15 GREGORY’S BEST MOVIES :
1.To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film directed by Robert Mulligan. The screenplay by Horton Foote was based on the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Harper Lee. It stars Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch and Mary Badham in the role of Scout. The film, widely considered to be one of the greatest ever made, earned an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, and was a box office success as well, earning more than 10 times its budget.
2.Roman Holiday
Roman Holiday is a 1953 American romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler. It stars Gregory Peck as a reporter and Audrey Hepburn as a royal princess out to see Rome on her own. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance; the screenplay and costume design also won. 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.
3.Twelve O’Clock High
Twelve O’Clock High is a 1949 American film about aircrews in the United States Army’s Eighth Air Force who flew daylight missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in WWII. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King and Beirne Lay, Jr. from the 1948 novel 12 O’Clock High, also by Bartlett and Lay. It was directed by King and stars Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell, and Dean Jagger.
4.The Big Country
The Big Country is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. The picture was based on the serialized magazine novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon by Donald Hamilton. and was co-produced by Wyler and Peck. The opening title sequence was created by Saul Bass. The film is one of very few pictures in which Heston plays a major
5.Cape Fear
Cape Fear is a 1962 American psychological thriller film starring Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Martin Balsam 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. The movie concerns an attorney whose family is stalked by a person he helped to send to jail. Cape Fear was remade in 1991 by Martin Scorsese. Peck, Mitchum and Balsam all appeared in the remake.
6.Moby Dick
Moby Dick is a 1956 film adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Huston and Ray Bradbury. The film starred Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, and Leo Genn. The music score was written by Philip Sainton.
7.Gentleman’s Agreement
Gentleman’s Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who poses as a Jew to research an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut. It was nominated for eight Oscars and won three: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director. The movie was controversial in its time, as was a similar film on the same subject, Crossfire, which was released the same year. Gentleman’s Agreement was based on Laura Z. Hobson’s 1947 novel..
8.Spellbound
Spellbound is a 1945 American psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 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 MacPhail and Ben Hecht of the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Hilary Saint George Saunders and John Palmer.
9.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. It was written by screenwriters William Bowers and William Sellers, with an uncredited rewrite by writer and producer Nunnally Johnson, from a story by Bowers and screenwriter and director André de Toth.
10.On the Beach
On the Beach is a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film from United Artists, produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on Nevil Shute’s 1957 novel of the same name depicting a nuclear war and its aftermath. Unlike the novel, no blame is placed on whoever started the war; it is hinted that it may have been an accident, a few faulty vacuum tubes, or transistor…
11.The Yearling
The Yearling is a Technicolor family film drama directed by Clarence Brown, produced by Sidney Franklin, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay by Paul Osborn and John Lee Mahin was adapted from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s novel of the same name. The film stars Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman, Jr., Chill Wills, and Forrest Tucker.
12.The Boys from Brazil
The Boys from Brazil is a 1978 British-American thriller film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It stars Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier and features James Mason, Lilli Palmer, Uta Hagen and Steve Guttenberg in supporting roles. The screenplay by Heywood Gould is based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin. The film was produced by Martin Richards and Stanley O’Toole with Robert Fryer as executive producer.
13.Duel in the Sun
Duel in the Sun is a Technicolor 1946 Western film directed by King Vidor, produced and written by David O. Selznick, which tells the story of a Mestiza girl who goes to live with her caucasian relatives, becoming involved in prejudice and forbidden love. The movie stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lillian Gish and Lionel Barrymore.
14.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, but struggle in it for different reasons. In the end, it is a story of taking responsibility for one’s own life. The book was largely autobiographical, drawing on Wilson’s experiences as assistant
15.MacArthur
MacArthur is a 1977 American biographical war film directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Gregory Peck in the eponymous role as American General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.
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