Gregory Peck

"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

Gregory Peck who was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, was one of the most famous actors from the 1940s to the 1960s. Following high school, Peck attended military school and San Diego State College, and then enrolled in the pre-med program at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he became interested in acting, and after graduating from UC, he headed to New York City to continue studying the artform. Making a living as an usher at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Peck made his Broadway debut in 1942, in The Morning Star. Though the film wasn't well-received by audiences, Peck received critical acclaim for his acting. His career as an actor was beginning to blossom.

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. The performance earned him an Academy Award nomination. In 1947, Peck was again honored with an Oscar nomination, for his performance in Gentleman's Agreement, a film about a reporter who pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and discovers prejudice and hatred in the process. Later in the decade, Peck was seen in several well-received films, including Spellbound (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946) and Yellow Sky (1948).

Gregory Peck also starred as Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1956). Parts of the movie were filmed in the fishing village of Caniçal, a traditional whaling parish in Madeira Island, with real ‘whaling action’ done by local whalers of the island. Consequently, Gregory Peck became so seasick that the rest of the film had to be shot in a studio.

One of Peck's best-known roles is that of Atticus Finch in 1962 To Kill a Mockingbird, a film based on the acclaimed book by Harper Lee, published in 1960. For his performance, Peck received an Academy Award. In 1976, he played Robert Thorn in the popular horror film The Omen. He went on to act in MacArthur (1977), The Boys from Brazil (1978), The Sea Wolves (1980) and Other People's Money (1980), among many other films, until retiring from acting in the 1990s.

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 roles. In 1969, Peck was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his humanitarian efforts, by President Lyndon Johnson. Thirty years later, 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 and their two children.