(1916–2003). For his portrayal of a humane Southern lawyer in the motion picture To Kill a Mockingbird, Gregory Peck was awarded the Academy award for best actor in 1962. Like Atticus Finch, his Oscar-winning role, the characters Peck frequently played were much like the actor himself—likable, good men of measured speech who showed high moral qualities and honest strength. In 2003, just one week before Peck’s death, his portrayal of Atticus Finch was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest film hero of all time.
Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916, in La Jolla, Calif., where his father owned a drugstore. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, planning to become a doctor, but changed his major to English and drama. After graduation in 1939, he set out for New York City. He toured and played summer stock before landing his first Broadway role in The Morning Star in 1942. He appeared in several other stage productions before Hollywood beckoned.
Even before his first film, Days of Glory, was released in 1944 a bidding war was launched to win Peck’s services. Keys of the Kingdom (1944) won him an Academy award nomination, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1944) won him great praise. A second Academy award nomination followed in 1946 for his portrayal of the understanding father in The Yearling.
Peck’s next film established him as an artist of great moral integrity. In the film Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Peck played a journalist who poses as a Jew to expose anti-Semitism in the United States. The topic was considered especially volatile, and Peck was warned by many that the controversial role would ruin his career. However, the film not only became financially successful, it won an Oscar as best picture (1947) and earned Peck a third Oscar nomination.
Peck’s career was remarkable for the variety of genres in which he worked. His films ranged from romantic comedies such as Roman Holiday (1953) and Designing Woman (1957), to thrillers such as Cape Fear (1962) and The Omen (1976). He was a rugged military commander in Twelve O’Clock High (1949), Gen. Douglas MacArthur in MacArthur (1977), a stern gunslinger in The Gunfighter (1950), and Captain Ahab in Moby Dick (1956). He could also play the Everyman of mid-20th century America, as was seen in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). Usually cast as a hero, Peck could embody darker roles with relish, notably as a volatile cowboy in Duel in the Sun (1946) and a Nazi war criminal in The Boys from Brazil (1978).
Peck’s advocacy of liberal and humanitarian issues extended into his personal life. He was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the 1967 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was especially vocal about his opposition to the Vietnam War and produced The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972), a film based on a play about antiwar activists.
Peck was awarded the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement award in 1989 and the Kennedy Center Honors of 1991. He continued to work sporadically during the 1980s and 1990s, preferring to spend more time with his family. During this period he also frequently traveled around the United States, speaking at small theaters and colleges about his experiences. He died on June 12, 2003, in Los Angeles, Calif.