BIO
Gregory Peck is Born
1916Eldred Gregory Peck born April 5, La Jolla, CA. to Gregory Pearl Peck, of Irish descent, and Bernice Ayres, of Missouri.
Parents Divorce
1922His parents divorce, his mother returns to St. Louis, Missouri, and Gregory goes to live with his maternal grandmother in La Jolla.
St. John’s Catholic Military Academy
1926Sent to St. John’s Catholic Military Academy outside of Los Angeles, where he serves as an altar boy.
High School in San Diego
1930Returns to live with his pharmacist father. Attends San Diego High School.
First Year of College
1934Enrolls in San Diego State
Berkeley Awaits
1935Transfers to UC Berkely, enrolls in Pre-med, joins Cal crew team.
Finding the Stage
1938As a senior, discovers his passion in acting and appears in five plays at UC Berkeley.
New York Bound
1939Graduates UC Berkeley, boards a train to NY to study acting, and drops the first name “Eldred.”
Making Ends Meet
1939Barker at NY Worlds Fair, Usher at Radio City, models for Montgomery Ward, sleeps in Central Park when out of cash.
Acting School
1939Wins A Scholarship to the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse, studies acting with Sanford Meisner, movement with Martha Graham.
Summer Stock
1940Exempted from military service in WWII due to back injury. Begins playing roles in Summer Stock theater, including the Barter Theater, the Cape Playhouse.
Traveling Show
1941Tours in The Doctor’s Dilemma, by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Guthrie McClintic and starring Katherine Cornell.
Broadway Bound
1942Broadway debut in The Morning Star, with Katherine Cornell
Marriage
1942Greg marries Greta Kukkonen.
Acting on Broadway
1943Stars in The Willow and I, Sons and Soldiers.
First Son
1944Jonathan Peck is born.
Hollywood Beckons
1944Meets with Louis B Mayer, Darrel Zanuck, David O Selnick, Samuel Goldwyn. Says no to contract player system, becoming one of first actors able to work at multiple studios. Stars in first film, Days of Glory.
First Oscar Nomination
1944Stars in The Keys of the Kingdom, is nominated for Best Actor.
Working With The Greats
1945Stars in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, with Ingrid Bergman.
Lust in the Dust
1946Stars in Duel in the Sun, as memorable rogue Lewt McCanles.
Second Oscar Nomination
1946Stars in The Yearling.
Second Son is Born
1946Stephen Peck born.
First Golden Globe
1947Wins Golden Globe for The Yearling.
Third Oscar Nomination
1947Stars in Gentleman’s Agreement, first major film to deal with discrimination against Jews. Winner of Best Picture Oscar.
Goes Back to Theater Roots
1947Founder of La Jolla Playhouse, with fellow actors Mel Ferrer and Dorothy McGuire.
Fourth Oscar Nomination
1949Stars in Twelve O'Clock High and receives fourth Oscar nomination.
Third Son
1949Carey Paul Peck born.
Set In Stone
1949Puts handprints in the cement at Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.
His Favorite Western
1950Stars in The Gunfighter.
Movie Star Accolade
1951Golden Globe for World Film Favorite, Male
A Classic For All Times
1953Stars in Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn, directed by William Wyler.
Bambi Award
1954Germany's Best Actor Award for Roman Holiday.
More Recognition
1955Golden Globe for World Film Favorite, Male.
First Marriage Ends
1954Gregory and Greta file for divorce.
Model for Mad Men
1955Stars in The Man In the Grey Flannel Suit.
Remarries
1955Gregory marries Veronique Passani.
Takes on Melville
1956Stars in Moby Dick, directed by John Huston.
Fourth Son
1956Anthony Peck is born.
An Epic Western
1958Stars in The Big Country with Charlton Heston, also Co-Produces the film with William Wyler
Ahead of the Curve
1958Stars in On The Beach, sounding a warning against nuclear proliferation. Third film with beloved friend Ava Gardner.
Gets A Girl
1960Cecilia Peck is born.
Walk of Fame
1960Gets a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
Original Buddy Movie
1961Stars in The Guns of Navarone, with Anthony Quinn, David Niven and Anthony Quayle.
Takes on Mitchum
1962Stars in and produces Cape Fear.
His Favorite Role
1962Stars as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, fifth Oscar nomination.
Best Actor Oscar
1963Wins Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actor, To Kill A Mockingbird.
Academy Governorship
1964Elected to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Mr. Peck Goes to Washington
1964Appointed to National Council on the Arts.
Raises Record Breaking Funds
1965Appointed Chairman of American Cancer Society, travels the country raising awarness and funding.
Inner City Cultural Center
1966Helped found the Inner City Cultural Center, a multi-cultural theater in South Central Los Angeles.
A Presidential Call to Service
1967Appointed Founding Chairman of the American Film Institute.
Academy President
1967Elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, serves three terms.
Humanitarian Oscar
1967Second Oscar: The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Highest Civilian Honor
1969Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A Special Globe
1969Wins Golden Globe Cecil. B. DeMille Award, for Outstanding Contributions to the World of Entertainment.
Supporting His Community
1971Chairman of the Motion Picture Television and Relief Fund.
Opposes Vietnam War
1972Produces The Trial of the Catonsville Nine. At the same time is very proud of his son Stephen, who is deployed as a Marine in Vietnam.
Biggest Box Office Hit
1976Stars in The Omen.
Old Soldiers Never Die
1977Stars in MacArthur.
Works With Friend Laurence Olivier
1978Stars in Boys from Brazil as evil villain Dr. Josef Mengele.
Delivers Gettysburg Address
1982Plays Abraham Lincoln in The Blue and the Grey.
Jane Fonda Beckons
1989Stars in The Old Gringo, filmed on location in Mexico.
Honored By His Peers
1989AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award.
December at The White House
1991Receives Kennedy Center Honors.
Works With Scorsese
1991Plays cameo in remake of Cape Fear.
Celebrated in Manhattan
1992Honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
In the Hometown of Veronique
1993Awarded Legion d'Honneur in Paris, France's Highest Honor, by President Jacques Chirac.
Supporing Literacy
1995Launches Gregory Peck Reading Series at the Los Angeles Public Library.
An Honor From The President
1998Awarded National Medal of Arts.
Sixth Golden Globe, at 78
1998Plays cameo in TV remake of Moby Dick. Nominated for Emmy Award, wins Golden Globe.
Friend Harry Belafonte Presents
1999Wins Marian Anderson Award in Philadelphia for humanitarian leadership.
A Fine Accolade
1999The American Film Institute names Gregory one of the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
Treading the Boards Again
1999Tours in one man stage show, A Conversation With Gregory Peck.
Honored at Cannes
2000Documentary A Conversation With Gregory Peck premieres at Cannes Festival.
Stand Up, Miss Jean Louise
2003AFI names Atticus Finch #1 Movie Hero of All Time.
Gregory Peck Passes Away
June 12, 2003June 12, at home in Los Angeles, with Veronique and his family at his side.
Final Words From a Lifelong Friend
June 16, 2003June 16, Brock Peters delivers Gregory's eulogy, at Los Angeles' Catherdral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Atticus Forever
2011US Post Office issues a Forever Stamp of Gregory as Atticus Finch.
A Presidential Favorite
2012For the 50th anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird, President Obama screens film at the White House.
I’m not a do-gooder. It embarrassed me to be classified as a humanitarian. I simply take part in activities that I believe in.
– Gregory Peck
I think that’s what the audience is really interested in… you, how you’re going to cope with the situation, the obstacles, the troubles that the writer put in front of you.
– Gregory Peck
Tough times don’t last, tough people do, remember?
– Gregory Peck
I enjoy practicing my craft as well as I possibly can. I enjoy the work for its own sake.
– Gregory Peck
Of the movies I’ve done there isn’t much I really like. The Gunfighter, Roman Holiday, Twelve O’Clock High I feel were my best.
– Gregory Peck, 1957
Tall and strikingly handsome, with a commanding presence and a deep, resonant voice, Peck was born in La Jolla, California, on April 5, 1916. As a senior at the University of California at Berkeley, he was cast in several plays and fell in love with acting. Upon graduating, he won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and made his Broadway debut in 1942. Critical praise and more stage roles followed. Peck soon caused a sensation in Hollywood and quickly became a major star. One of cinema’s most respected actors, Gregory Peck appeared in more than 60 films during an esteemed career that stretched from the 1940’s to the early 2000’s. His dignity, humanity, and integrity impressed critics from the start and endeared him to generations of moviegoers. Nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actor, he won the Oscar for his performance as defense attorney Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, a character that Peck said was closest to his own heart.
Although he played a wide variety of memorable roles throughout his career—a wayward cowboy in Duel in the Sun (1946), a love-struck reporter in Roman Holiday (1953), Captain Ahab in Moby Dick (1956)—Peck always grounded his performance in a keen intelligence and innate authenticity that illuminated the screen.
His thoughtful portrayal of a devoted priest in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Another Oscar nomination followed for The Yearling (1946). In Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Peck played a passionate young reporter determined to expose anti-Semitism. Acclaimed by critics as well as the public, the film earned eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Peck as Best Actor. He received a fourth Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the commander of a demoralized World War II bomber squadron in Twelve O’Clock High (1949).
Peck’s own favorite role, and the one for which he is most remembered, is Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film tells the story of Atticus’s defense of a black man accused of raping a white woman. The film opened in December 1962. According to Variety, it was “a major film achievement, a significant, captivating and memorable picture that ranks with the best of recent years.” The film earned eight Academy Award nominations, countless international honors, and the Best Actor Oscar for Peck. Perhaps Harper Lee summed it up best: “Atticus Finch gave Gregory Peck an opportunity to play himself.” In 2003, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Atticus Finch the number one movie hero in American film history.
From the beginning, Peck’s career included many critical and box-office hits, including Spellbound (1945), The Gunfighter (1950), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), On the Beach (1959), and The Guns of Navarone (1961). In the late 1950s, he also formed his own movie production company. Its films included the epic 1958 western The Big Country, the innovative Korean War drama Pork Chop Hill (1959), and the suspense thriller Cape Fear (1962), among others. In The Omen (1976), he had the biggest box office hit of his career. In 1991, he revisited Cape Fear in a version directed by Martin Scorsese, and in 1998 received a Golden Globe for his tour-de-force appearance in a television adaptation of Moby Dick.
In the midst of his phenomenal rise in Hollywood, Peck remained committed to live theater. In 1947, he was a founder of the La Jolla Playhouse, a nonprofit professional theater company, and was an active and avid supporter for the rest of his life. Peck was an outspoken opponent of racism and anti-semitism, and championed films which addressed these issues head-on.
Peck was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1967 to 1970 and also served as a longtime governor. He was an inaugural member of the National Council on the Arts and the Founding Chairman of the American Film Institute. He was National Chairman of the American Cancer Society and raised record-breaking contributions. He also devoted himself to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, which provides health care to members of the entertainment industry. For his public service, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an honorary Oscar, in 1967.
In 1969, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Peck the Presidential Medal of Freedom as “an artist who had brought new dignity to the actor’s profession,” and in 1970, Peck received the Screen Actors Guild award for “outstanding achievement in fostering the ideals of the acting profession.” In 1989, he received the AFI Life Achievement Award, followed by the Kennedy Center Honors in 1991 and the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton in 1998.
Gregory Peck will long be remembered for leaving the indelible imprint of his own character on all the roles he played, especially Atticus Finch, of whom he said: “I put everything I had into it—all my feelings and everything I’d learned in 46 years of living, about family life and fathers and children, and my feelings about racial justice and inequality and opportunity.”