Gregory Peck (person)

In the spring of 1939, Eldred Peck skipped graduation at UC Berkeley and, with $160 and a letter of introduction in his pocket, took a chair car to New York.
Three days later, he stepped off the train in Manhattan as Gregory Peck, the actor. ¹

Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla, California, in 1916, where his father was a druggist. He grew up in San Diego and when he was five, his parents divorced. While he was growing up, his grandmother took him to the movies every week. Peck atteneded Berkeley where he studied pre-med and had thoughts of following in his father's footsteps. However the acting bug changed the course of his life and he left for New York.

In New York, Peck enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse and debuted on Broadway in the play by Emlyn Willams, "The Morning Star". In 1943, Peck had moved to Hollywood where he first apeared in the movie Days of Glory (1944). In 1944, Peck was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Keys to the Kingdom, (1944). He was nominated again in 1946 for his role in The Yearling and won a Golden Globe.

Now that Peck was an established actor, he only took on the roles that he wanted to play. He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her debut film Roman Holiday and finally won an Oscar for the role of Lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Another of his memorable roles was as Sam Bowden in Cape Fear (1962), which was also remade in 1991. Peck has also had roles in several mini-series, The Blue and the Gray (1982) and The Scarlet and the Black (1983).

In 1969, Peck was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Lyndon Johnson. He has also received an award from the Screen Actor's Guild for "outstanding achievement in fostering the ideals in the acting profession." ² That same year he was also awarded the American Film Institue's Life Achievement Award.

Mr. Peck passed away Wednesday June 11, 2003, he was 87 years old.

Actor- filmography

1. Days of Glory (1944)
2. Keys of the Kingdom (1945)
3. The Valley of Decision (1945)
4. Spellbound (1945)
5. The Yearling (1946)
6. Duel in the Sun (1946)
7. The Macomber Affair (1947)
8. Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
9. The Paradine Case (1947)
10. Yellow Sky (1948)
11. The Great Sinner (1949)
12. Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
13. The Gunfighter (1950)
14. Only the Valiant (1951)
15. David and Bathsheba (1951)
16. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
17. The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
18. The World in His Arms (1952)
19. Pictura (1952)
20. Roman Holiday (1953)
21. The Million Pound Note (1953)
22. Boum Sur Paris (1953)
23. Night People (1954)
24. The Purple Plain (1954)
25. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
26. Moby Dick (1956)
27. Designing Woman (1957)
28. The Bravados (1958)
29. The Big Country (1958)
30. Pork Chop Hill (1959)
31. Beloved Infidel (1959)
32. On the Beach (1959)
33. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
34. How the West Was Won (1962)
35. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
36. Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
37. Behold a Pale Horse (1964)
38. Mirage (1965)
39. The Love Goddesses (1965)
40. Arabesque (1966)
41. The Stalking Moon (1969)
42. Marooned (1969)
43. I walk the Line (1970)
44. Shoot Out (1971)
45. Billy Two Hats (1973)
46. The Omen (1976)
47. MacArthur (1977)
48. The Boys from Brazil (1978)
49. The Sea Wolves: The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse (1980)
50. The Blue and the Gray (1982)
51. The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
52. Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)
53. Old Gringo (1989)
54. Other People's Money (1991)
55. Cape Fear (1991)
56. Moby Dick (1998)