Gregory Peck Picture 9

Biography

One of the postwar era's most successful actors, Gregory Peck was long the moral conscience of the silver screen; almost without exception, his performances embodied the virtues of strength, conviction, and intelligence so highly valued by American audiences. As the studios' iron grip on Hollywood began to loosen, he also emerged among the very first stars to declare his creative independence, working almost solely in movies of his own choosing. Born April 5, 1916, in La Jolla, CA, Peck worked as a truck driver before attending Berkeley, where he first began acting. He later relocated to New York City and was a barker at the 1939 World's Fair. He soon won a two-year contract with the Neighborhood Playhouse. His first professional work was in association with a 1942 Katherine Cornell/Guthrie McClintic ensemble Broadway production of The Morning Star. There Peck was spotted by David O. Selznick, for whom he screen-tested, only to be turned down. Over the next year, he played a double role in The Willow and I, fielding and rejecting the occasional film offer. Finally, in 1943, he accepted a role in Days of Glory, appearing opposite then-fiancée Tamara Toumanova.

While the picture itself was largely dismissed, Peck found himself at the center of a studio bidding war. He finally signed with 20th Century Fox, who cast him in 1944's The Keys of the Kingdom. From the outset, he enjoyed unique leverage as a performer; he refused to sign a long-term contract with any one studio, and selected all of his scripts himself. For MGM, he starred in 1945's The Valley of Decision, a major hit. Even more impressive was the follow-up, Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, which co-starred Ingrid Bergman. For 1946's The Yearling, Peck grabbed his first Academy Award nomination and followed it with another rousing success, King Vidor's Duel in the Sun. His second Oscar nomination arrived via Elia Kazan's 1947 social drama Gentleman's Agreement, a meditation on anti-Semitism which won Best Picture honors. For the follow-up, Peck reunited with Hitchcock for The Paradine Case, one of the few flops on either's resumé. He returned in 1948 with a William Wellman Western, Yellow Sky, before signing for a pair of films with director Henry King, Twelve O'Clock High (earning Best Actor laurels from the New York critics) and The Gunfighter.

After Captain Horatio Hornblower, Peck appeared in the Biblical epic David and Bathsheba, one of 1951's biggest box-office hits. Upon turning down High Noon, he starred in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. To earn a tax exemption, he spent the next 18 months in Europe, there shooting 1953's Roman Holiday for William Wyler. After filming 1954's Night People, Peck traveled to Britain, where he starred in a pair of features for Rank -- The Million Pound Note and The Purple Plain -- neither of which performed well at the box office; however, upon returning stateside he starred in the smash The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. The 1958 Western The Big Country was his next major hit, and he quickly followed it with another, The Bravados. Few enjoyed Peck's portrayal of F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1959's Beloved Infidel, but the other two films he made that year, the Korean War drama Pork Chop Hill and Stanley Kramer's post-apocalyptic fantasy On the Beach, were both much more successful.

Still, 1961's World War II adventure The Guns of Navarone topped them all -- indeed, it was among the highest-grossing pictures in film history. A vicious film noir, Cape Fear, followed in 1952, as did Robert Mulligan's classic adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird; as Atticus Finch, an idealistic Southern attorney defending a black man charged with rape, Peck finally won an Academy Award. Also that year he co-starred in the Cinerama epic How the West Was Won, yet another massive success. However, it was to be Peck's last for many years. For Fred Zinneman, he starred in 1964's Behold a Pale Horse, miscast as a Spanish loyalist, followed by Captain Newman, M.D., a comedy with Tony Curtis which performed only moderately well. When 1966's Mirage and Arabesque disappeared from theaters almost unnoticed, Peck spent the next three years absent from the screen. When he returned in 1969, however, it was with no less than four new films -- The Stalking Moon, MacKenna's Gold, The Chairman, and Marooned -- all of them poorly received.

The early '70s proved no better: First up was I Walk the Line, with Tuesday Weld, followed the next year by Henry Hathaway's Shootout. After the failure of the 1973 Western Billy Two Hats, he again vanished from cinemas for three years, producing (but not appearing in) The Dove. However, in 1976, Peck starred in the horror film The Omen, an unexpected smash. Studio interest was rekindled, and in 1977 he portrayed MacArthur. The Boys From Brazil followed, with Peck essaying a villainous role for the first time in his screen career. After 1981's The Sea Wolves, he turned for the first time to television, headlining the telefilm The Scarlet and the Black. Remaining on the small screen, he portrayed Abraham Lincoln in the 1985 miniseries The Blue and the Grey, returning to theater for 1987's little-seen anti-nuclear fable Amazing Grace and Chuck. Old Gringo followed two years later, and in 1991 he co-starred in a pair of high-profile projects, the Norman Jewison comedy Other People's Money and Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Remembering Roman Holiday (2002) (V) (archive footage) .... Himself
Restoring Roman Holiday (2002) (V) (archive footage)
Making of 'Cape Fear', The (2001/I) (V) .... Himself
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001) (TV) .... Himself
American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith (2000)
Audrey Hepburn Story, The (2000) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Art of Norton Simon, The (1999) (voice) .... Himself (narrator)
Conversation with Gregory Peck, A (1999) .... Himself
From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff (1999) (voice) .... Himself/Narrator
Fearful Symmetry (1998) (V) .... Himself
... aka Fearful Symmetry: The Making of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (1998) (V) (USA)
Films of Charles and Ray Eames Volume 5 (1998) (V) .... Himself (narrator, introduction only)
70th Annual Academy Awards, The (1998) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself (Past Oscar Winner Tribute Sequence)
Moby Dick (1998) (TV) .... Father Mapple
Thar She Blows: The Making of 'Moby Dick' (1998) (TV) .... Himself (narrator)
Kennedy Center Honors, The (1997) (TV) .... Himself
American Film Institute Salute to Martin Scorsese, The (1997) (TV) .... Himself
Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996) .... Himself
Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, A (1995) (TV) .... Himself
Roger Moore: A Matter of Class (1995) (TV) .... Himself
Sinatra: 80 Years My Way (1995) (TV) .... Himself
L'Hidato Shel Adolf Eichmann (1994) .... Himself (narrator)
"Baseball" (1994) (mini) TV Series (voice) .... Himself
Passage à l'acte (1993) .... Atticus Finch
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1993) (uncredited) .... Actor in 'Spellbound' Clip
Legend to Legend Night: A Celebrity Cavalcade (1993) (TV) .... Himself
Audrey Hepburn Remembered (1993) (TV) .... Himself
65th Annual Academy Awards, The (1993) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
Portrait, The (1993) (TV) .... Gardner Church
Kennedy Center Honors, The (1992) (TV) .... Himself
Kennedy Center Honors, The (1991) (TV) .... Himself (Honoree)
Cape Fear (1991) .... Lee Heller, Cady's Attorney
Other People's Money (1991) .... Andrew Jorgenson
Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days (1991) (TV) .... Himself (narrator)
63rd Annual Academy Awards, The (1991) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration (1990) (TV) .... Himself
5th Annual American Cinema Awards (1990) (TV) .... Himself/honoree
American Film Institute Salute to Gregory Peck, The (1989) (TV) .... Himself
Films of Charles and Ray Eames Volume 1 (1989) (V) .... Himself (narrator, introduction)
Films of Charles and Ray Eames Volume 2 (1989) (V) .... Himself (narrator, introduction)
Old Gringo (1989) .... Ambrose Bierce
American Film Institute Salute to Jack Lemmon, The (1988) (TV) .... Himself
Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987) .... President
... aka Silent Voice (1987)
Directed by William Wyler (1986) .... Himself
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret (1984) .... Himself
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Robert Thorn (segment "The Omen")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: video title English title)
Scarlet and the Black, The (1983) (TV) .... Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty
... aka Scarlatto e nero (1983) (TV) (Italy)
... aka Vatican Pimpernel, The (1983) (TV)
"Blue and the Gray, The" (1982) (mini) TV Series .... Abraham Lincoln
Sea Wolves: The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse, The (1980) .... Col. Lewis Pugh
... aka Sea Wolves, The (1980)
Ken Murray Shooting Stars (1979) .... Himself (archive footage)
Rockette: A Holiday Tribute to Radio City Music Hall (1978) (TV) .... Himself/Host
Boys from Brazil, The (1978) .... Dr. Josef Mengele
MacArthur (1977) .... General Douglas MacArthur
... aka MacArthur, the Rebel General (1977)
NBC: The First Fifty Years - A Closer Look (1976) (TV) .... Himself
Omen, The (1976) .... Robert Thorn
... aka Omen I (1976) (reissue title)
... aka Omen I: The Antichrist (1976) (reissue title)
... aka Omen I: The Birthmark (1976) (reissue title)
American Film Institute Presents a Salute to William Wyler, The (1976) (TV) .... Himself
... aka 4th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award: A Salute to William Wyler, The (1976) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Billy Two Hats (1973) .... Deans
... aka Lady and the Outlaw, The (1973)
Shoot Out (1971) .... Clay Lomax
I Walk the Line (1970) .... Sheriff Henry Tawes
Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1969) (TV) .... Himself
Marooned (1969) .... Charles Keith
... aka Space Travelers (1969) (USA: reissue title)
Chairman, The (1969) .... John Hathaway
... aka Most Dangerous Man in the World, The (1969) (UK)
Mackenna's Gold (1969) .... MacKenna
Stalking Moon, The (1969) .... Sam Varner
22nd Annual Tony Awards, The (1968) (TV) .... Himself (presenter)
Africa (1967) (TV) (voice) .... Himself (narrator)
John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums (1966) .... Offscreen Narrator
Arabesque (1966) .... David Pollock
Love Goddesses, The (1965) .... Himself
... aka Love Goddesses: A History of Sex in the Cinema, The (1965)
Mirage (1965) .... David Stillwell
Behold a Pale Horse (1964) .... Manuel Artiguez
... aka Et vint le jour de la vengeance (1964) (France)
Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) .... Capt. Josiah Newman, MD
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) .... Atticus Finch
How the West Was Won (1962) .... Cleve Van Valen
Lykke og krone (1962) .... Himself
Cape Fear (1962) .... Sam Bowden
Guns of Navarone, The (1961) .... Capt. Keith Mallory
On the Beach (1959) .... Commander Dwight Lionel Towers, U.S.S. Sawfish
Beloved Infidel (1959) .... F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pork Chop Hill (1959) .... Lt. Joe Clemons
Big Country, The (1958) .... James McKay
Bravados, The (1958) .... Jim Douglass
Designing Woman (1957) .... Mike Hagen
Moby Dick (1956) .... Captain Ahab
Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, The (1956) .... Tom Rath (ex-Capt.)
Purple Plain, The (1954) .... Squadron Leader Bill Forrester
Night People (1954) .... Col. Steve Van Dyke
Boum sur Paris (1954)
Million Pound Note, The (1953) .... Henry Adams
... aka Man with a Million (1954) (USA)
Roman Holiday (1953) .... Joe Bradley, Correspondent American News Service
World in His Arms, The (1952) .... Jonathan Clark
Snows of Kilimanjaro, The (1952) .... Harry Street
Pictura (1951) .... Himself (narrator)
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) .... Capt. Horatio Hornblower, R.N
... aka Captain Horatio Hornblower, R.N. (1951) (UK)
David and Bathsheba (1951) .... King David
Only the Valiant (1951) .... Capt. Richard Lance
Gunfighter, The (1950) .... Jimmie Ringo
Twelve O'Clock High (1949) .... Brig. Gen. Frank Savage, Asst. Chief of Air Staff A-3/CO, 918th Bomb Group
Great Sinner, The (1949) .... Fedja
Yellow Sky (1948) .... Stretch
Paradine Case, The (1947) .... Anthony Keane, Council for the Defense
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) .... Philip Schuyler 'Phil' Green
Macomber Affair, The (1947) .... Robert Wilson
Duel in the Sun (1946) .... Lewt McCanles
Yearling, The (1946) .... Penny Baxter
Spellbound (1945) .... John Ballantine
... aka Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) (USA: promotional title)
Valley of Decision, The (1945) .... Paul Scott
Keys of the Kingdom, The (1944) .... Father Francis Chisholm
Days of Glory (1944) .... Vladimir