GREGORY PECK PROFILE – FATHER OF ARMENIAN ROOTS
>From Diana Saenger,
About – News & Issues, NY
April 10 2006
Notable Film Star
Date of Birth: April 5, 1916
Place of Birth: La Jolla, CA
Date of Death: June 12,2003
Place of Death: Los Angeles, California
Cause of Death: natural causes
Gregory Peck was a major screen idol in feature films from 1944 to
1998, but he was also known for many other endeavors. He was the
national chairman of the American Cancer Society (1966), president
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (1967-1970), charter
member of the National Council on the Arts (1968-1974), recipient of
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, nation’s highest civilian award
in 1969 by Lyndon Johnson and he marched with Martin Luther King.
Peck’s Early Interest in Films Born Eldred Gregory Peck in the sunny
and posh seaside of La Jolla, California, Peck’s father, from Armenian
roots, was a pharmacist in San Diego. After his parents divorced when
Peck was five, he went to live with his grandmother, Kate Ayres. It
was she who sparked his early interest in films by taking him to
the movies every week. Peck attended grammar school in La Jolla,
graduated from San Diego High in 1933, and then headed north.
While enrolled in a pre-med program at Berkeley, Peck reconnected with
his childhood enjoyment of films and began taking acting classes. So
bitten by the acting bug, he ducked out on graduation at UC Berkeley
in 1939 and took a train to New York to enroll in the Neighborhood
Playhouse in New York. While honing his craft, Peck worked at Radio
City Music Hall as a tour guide and as a catalog model for Montgomery
Ward. After graduating he made his stage debut in 1942 in The Morning
Star. That same year Peck married Greta Kukkonen.
Instant Stardom Only one year later the handsome actor found himself
in Hollywood working for RKO pictures. Days of Glory (1944) was his
film debut; Peck played Vladimir in a film about the Nazi invasion
of Russia.
It’s rare for an actor to be nominated for an Academy Award on their
second film, but Peck was with his role as Father Francis Chisholm,
a young priest, sent to China to establish a Catholic parish among
the non-Christian Chinese in The Keys of the Kingdom(1944). Next came
the films Spellbound (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), and The Yearling
(1946), which garnered Peck another Academy Award nomination.
Still feeling a draw to the stage, in 1947, Peck returned to La
Jolla accompanied by Mel Ferrer and Dorothy McGuire. The trio of
actors founded the La Jolla Playhouse, today a world renown playhouse
responsible for many Broadway bound long running shows. Their hope to
create a theatre where film actors could hone their craft on stage
away from Hollywood became a reality. The La Jolla Playhouse hosted
a myriad of stars from Vivian Vance to Dennis Hopper, and Peck would
return often to add his support to theatre’s fundraising campaigns.
“As our founder, Gregory Peck’s contribution to the Playhouse
and theatre in San Diego, as well as American film, leaves a
lasting legacy,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Des McAnuff in an
interview. “We want to honor that legacy by celebrating his life. He
is our artistic soul and will be in our hearts and minds as the
Playhouse moves forward into the future.” Fast becoming an extremely
fruitful actor, that same year in 1947 Peck earned two more Academy
Award nomination for his roles in Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) and
Twelve O’Clock High (1949). Other films would follow – Yellow Sky
(1949), The Great Sinner (1949) and The Gunfighter (1950) among them.
With his impressive resume, Peck could now call the shots. He chose
scripts that appealed to him, ones with noble and ethical undertones
such as Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951), The Purple Plain
(1954), Moby Dick (1956), Pork Chop Hill (1959) and The Guns of
Navarone (1961).
“They say the bad guys are more interesting to play but there is
more to it than that,” Peck once said. “Playing the good guys is more
challenging because it’s harder to make them interesting.”
In 1955 Peck divorced Greta Kukkonen. The couple had three children
– Jonathan, Stephen and Carey. That same year he married Veronique
Passani, who remained his wife until his death and gave Peck two more
children – Tony and Cecilia.
With his tall statue and heroic looks, it was only natural that
studios also wanted him for romantic leads. Peck chose these roles
as well based on stars he admired and wanted to work with, such
as Susan Hayward David and Basthsheba (1951), Audrey Hepburn Roman
Holiday (1953), Lauren Bacall Designing Women (1957) and Deborah Kerr
Beloved Infidel (1959). Peck lost the adage, “Always a bridegroom,
never a bride,” when he won his first Oscar for his performance as
Lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
So heartfelt was his performance, the film still ranks among many
classic fans’ favorite films. Atticus Finch, was voted the greatest
screen hero of all time by the American Film Institute in May 2003.
By the late 1970s, Peck was losing his A-list star status. He tried
his hand at producing in The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972)
and The Dove (1974), the 57th Annual Academy Awards (1985). He did
return to his native San Diego to film scenes for MacAuthur, in which
he played Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Peck appeared in some roles in TV
mini series during these years. His last role was as Father Mapple
in the 1998 TV movie Moby Dick .
His peers, coworkers, and fans all hailed Peck as a generous, talented
and kind man, who gave Hollywood some excellent films reels and deeply
cared about the world around him. “He was exactly what I expected,”
said La Playhouse’s artistic director Des McAnuff when he met Peck
in person at the Playhouse. “A giant of a man with wonderful dignity,
a great sense of humanity and humor.
Gregory Peck died at age 87.
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