| OCTOBER 2005 GREGORY PECK |
| EXISTING REVIEWS Spellbound - 1945 Roman Holiday - 1953 The Big Country - 1958 The Guns of Navarone - 1961 To Kill a Mockingbird - 1962 Arabesque - 1966 and MacKenna's Gold - 1969 |
| NEW REVIEWS Duel In the Sun - 1946 Gentleman's Agreement - 1947 Twelve O'Clock High - 1949 The Purple Plain - 1954 The Man In the Gray Flannel Suit - 1956 Moby Dick - 1956 Cape Fear - 1962 and The Omen - 1976 |
Culturally, it's a miracle that Gregory Peck left a pre-med ambition behind at Berkeley to follow an acting
obsession. Born in 1916, Peck came from a broken home and was raised by his grandmother. Unable
to serve in World War II due to a back injury, Peck found himself in a fortuitous position filling the void left
by the other young stars such as James Stewart and Gary Cooper who went off to serve their country.
After appearing on Broadway for a time, Peck soon moved into films. His first film appearance was in
"Days of Glory." Soon after, he appeared in "The Keys of the Kingdom," in which he earned his first
Oscar nomination playing a priest in China. This film would set a career-long precedent for Peck to play
the stalwart and upstanding idealist in the face of the jaded. Peck was to become cinema's undaunted
hero.
He starred alongside Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound" in 1945, playing an amnesiac
who's convinced he killed a man. Here, Peck's hero-persona had not been completely cemented yet
and viewers are kept guessing if Peck is a killer or a victim of a frame job. Peck earned another Oscar
nomination for "The Yearling," where he played a father of a boy who wants to raise an orphaned deer.
In "Duel In the Sun," a Western by David O. Selznick, Peck abandoned the good-guy persona and
portrayed an immoral gunfighter obsessed with making life miserable for a gypsy girl.
obsession. Born in 1916, Peck came from a broken home and was raised by his grandmother. Unable
to serve in World War II due to a back injury, Peck found himself in a fortuitous position filling the void left
by the other young stars such as James Stewart and Gary Cooper who went off to serve their country.
After appearing on Broadway for a time, Peck soon moved into films. His first film appearance was in
"Days of Glory." Soon after, he appeared in "The Keys of the Kingdom," in which he earned his first
Oscar nomination playing a priest in China. This film would set a career-long precedent for Peck to play
the stalwart and upstanding idealist in the face of the jaded. Peck was to become cinema's undaunted
hero.
He starred alongside Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound" in 1945, playing an amnesiac
who's convinced he killed a man. Here, Peck's hero-persona had not been completely cemented yet
and viewers are kept guessing if Peck is a killer or a victim of a frame job. Peck earned another Oscar
nomination for "The Yearling," where he played a father of a boy who wants to raise an orphaned deer.
In "Duel In the Sun," a Western by David O. Selznick, Peck abandoned the good-guy persona and
portrayed an immoral gunfighter obsessed with making life miserable for a gypsy girl.
| Gregory Peck struggles to remember his identity and get a train ticket in "Spellbound." |
Soon after "Duel In the Sun," Peck was racking up Oscar nominations once again. In the 1947 film
"Gentleman's Agreement," Peck plays a journalist who poses as a Jewish man to better research a
story he's working on about anti-Semitism. The movie was one of the first to deal overtly with
discrimination and earned Peck his second Oscar nomination. His third would come with one of the
greatest war films ever made.
"Twelve O'Clock High" is a story of the Eighth Air Force and the B-17 Flying Fortresses in Europe
during World War II. Peck plays a commander assigned to rejuvenate a bomb group that has taken
heavy losses and is low on morale. Released in 1949, "Twelve O'Clock High" is one of the first films
about World War II to show some of the negative sides of combat, including the tragic loss of many
young men during daylight bombing missions.
By this point, Peck had serious clout in Hollywood and upon the release of the romantic drama, "Roman
Holiday," Peck almost single-handedly gave Audrey Hepburn her career, ordering the studio to place
her name alongside his on the marquee. The movie about a lost princess and her 24 hours in the real
world proved a smash for Peck and a career jump start for the young Hepburn.
"Gentleman's Agreement," Peck plays a journalist who poses as a Jewish man to better research a
story he's working on about anti-Semitism. The movie was one of the first to deal overtly with
discrimination and earned Peck his second Oscar nomination. His third would come with one of the
greatest war films ever made.
"Twelve O'Clock High" is a story of the Eighth Air Force and the B-17 Flying Fortresses in Europe
during World War II. Peck plays a commander assigned to rejuvenate a bomb group that has taken
heavy losses and is low on morale. Released in 1949, "Twelve O'Clock High" is one of the first films
about World War II to show some of the negative sides of combat, including the tragic loss of many
young men during daylight bombing missions.
By this point, Peck had serious clout in Hollywood and upon the release of the romantic drama, "Roman
Holiday," Peck almost single-handedly gave Audrey Hepburn her career, ordering the studio to place
her name alongside his on the marquee. The movie about a lost princess and her 24 hours in the real
world proved a smash for Peck and a career jump start for the young Hepburn.
| Peck succumbs to battle fatigue in the bomber war masterpiece, "Twelve O'Clock High." |
He performed in the British war drama, "The Purple Plain," about an R.A.F. pilot with
a death wish who is forced to help his comrades survive the Burmese desert. Two
years later, Peck appeared in the poignant human drama, "The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit," about a war veteran climbing the corporate American ladder and
having misgivings about the effect it is having on his family life.
Peck also appeared in "Moby Dick," a very personal project for him and one in which
he was so proud that years later when director Steven Spielberg wanted to use a clip
from it in his water movie, "Jaws," Peck refused because Speilberg wanted it to be the
setup for a joke.
Director William Wyler snagged Peck for the lead in the epic Western, "The Big
Country," in 1958. In the film, Peck plays an Eastern sailor who comes West to marry
the daughter of a rancher. Unexpectedly, he finds himself in the middle of a blood
feud between two families, one being the family of his bride-to-be. Confident in his
convictions, Peck refuses to play to either side and ends up square in the middle of
their violent contest.
Peck returned to war in 1961, except this time in a war adventure rather than a war
drama in the action classic, "The Guns of Navarone," in which he plays the
commander of a group of soldiers sent on a near-suicide mission to destroy a battery
on Nazi artillery cannons in Greece.
In 1962, Peck acted in two films that he would be remembered for forever.
a death wish who is forced to help his comrades survive the Burmese desert. Two
years later, Peck appeared in the poignant human drama, "The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit," about a war veteran climbing the corporate American ladder and
having misgivings about the effect it is having on his family life.
Peck also appeared in "Moby Dick," a very personal project for him and one in which
he was so proud that years later when director Steven Spielberg wanted to use a clip
from it in his water movie, "Jaws," Peck refused because Speilberg wanted it to be the
setup for a joke.
Director William Wyler snagged Peck for the lead in the epic Western, "The Big
Country," in 1958. In the film, Peck plays an Eastern sailor who comes West to marry
the daughter of a rancher. Unexpectedly, he finds himself in the middle of a blood
feud between two families, one being the family of his bride-to-be. Confident in his
convictions, Peck refuses to play to either side and ends up square in the middle of
their violent contest.
Peck returned to war in 1961, except this time in a war adventure rather than a war
drama in the action classic, "The Guns of Navarone," in which he plays the
commander of a group of soldiers sent on a near-suicide mission to destroy a battery
on Nazi artillery cannons in Greece.
In 1962, Peck acted in two films that he would be remembered for forever.
| ABOVE: Gregory Peck enters the corporate rat race in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." BELOW: Peck and Alfonso Bedoya in "The Big Country." |
In both of these films, Peck plays a lawyer. Interesting that he played two lawyers in
the same year, but in very different scenarios. In J. Lee Thompson's "Cape Fear,"
Peck is a lawyer who finds he and his family threatened by a man he had previously
imprisoned, played in a sinister performance by Robert Mitchum. Peck's reputation
as a moral symbol was to his advantage in this role, making it a great thriller.
In "To Kill a Mockingbird," Peck defined his entire career, playing Atticus Finch, the
famed character out of Harper Lee's timeless novel. Peck is a living ideal in the film,
a lawyer who steps up to defend a black man on trial for rape in a small, Southern
town in the 1930s. The man is innocent, and everyone knows it, but can Atticus
convince them to cast aside their bigotry and be objective and just?
Peck worked closely with writer Lee and studied the mannerisms of her own father to
accurately portray the character. The performance earned him an Oscar and went
on to become considered one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, character in
film history.
the same year, but in very different scenarios. In J. Lee Thompson's "Cape Fear,"
Peck is a lawyer who finds he and his family threatened by a man he had previously
imprisoned, played in a sinister performance by Robert Mitchum. Peck's reputation
as a moral symbol was to his advantage in this role, making it a great thriller.
In "To Kill a Mockingbird," Peck defined his entire career, playing Atticus Finch, the
famed character out of Harper Lee's timeless novel. Peck is a living ideal in the film,
a lawyer who steps up to defend a black man on trial for rape in a small, Southern
town in the 1930s. The man is innocent, and everyone knows it, but can Atticus
convince them to cast aside their bigotry and be objective and just?
Peck worked closely with writer Lee and studied the mannerisms of her own father to
accurately portray the character. The performance earned him an Oscar and went
on to become considered one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, character in
film history.
| Peck in his seminal role as Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird." |
The remainder of Gregory Peck's career was arguably even more eclectic than the
first half which led to Atticus Finch. He worked on a few films that didn't really take
off, like "Captain Newman, M.D." as well as the highly anticipated European
espionage thriller, "Arabesque," which was director Stanley Donen's follow-up to the
hit film, "Charade." Unfortunately, Peck couldn't give audiences a Cary Grant-style
performance because, quite simply, he wasn't Cary Grant.
He returned to Westerns with the 1969 adventure, "MacKenna's Gold," in which he
plays a marshal on the lookout for a bandit named Colorado, played by Omar Sharif.
Epic in scope, dated in style, the film was a kind of Atticus Finch in the old West with
a few interesting complications, namely the shapely Julie Newmar. Later that year,
Peck worked on the interesting but sometimes slow NASA drama, "Marooned," in
which he played the head of the Houston command center when a space capsule is
trapped in orbit.
Later in his career, Peck took some interesting forays. In the late 1970s Peck starred
in three stand-out films for his career. In 1976, he starred in the horror film, "The
Omen," about a man who believes his adopted son may be the Antichrist. In 1977,
he starred in the biopic, "MacArthur," as the famous general. In 1978, Peck played
escaped Nazi scientist, Dr. Josef Mengele, in the science-fiction drama, "The Boys
From Brazil," in which he attempts to clone Adolf Hitler.
Peck didn't work much in the 1980s, doing a few films like "Old Gringo," and "The
Sea Wolves." In 1991, Peck made a cameo appearance in Martin Scorsese's
remake of "Cape Fear." He also appeared in his final film, "Other People's Money."
first half which led to Atticus Finch. He worked on a few films that didn't really take
off, like "Captain Newman, M.D." as well as the highly anticipated European
espionage thriller, "Arabesque," which was director Stanley Donen's follow-up to the
hit film, "Charade." Unfortunately, Peck couldn't give audiences a Cary Grant-style
performance because, quite simply, he wasn't Cary Grant.
He returned to Westerns with the 1969 adventure, "MacKenna's Gold," in which he
plays a marshal on the lookout for a bandit named Colorado, played by Omar Sharif.
Epic in scope, dated in style, the film was a kind of Atticus Finch in the old West with
a few interesting complications, namely the shapely Julie Newmar. Later that year,
Peck worked on the interesting but sometimes slow NASA drama, "Marooned," in
which he played the head of the Houston command center when a space capsule is
trapped in orbit.
Later in his career, Peck took some interesting forays. In the late 1970s Peck starred
in three stand-out films for his career. In 1976, he starred in the horror film, "The
Omen," about a man who believes his adopted son may be the Antichrist. In 1977,
he starred in the biopic, "MacArthur," as the famous general. In 1978, Peck played
escaped Nazi scientist, Dr. Josef Mengele, in the science-fiction drama, "The Boys
From Brazil," in which he attempts to clone Adolf Hitler.
Peck didn't work much in the 1980s, doing a few films like "Old Gringo," and "The
Sea Wolves." In 1991, Peck made a cameo appearance in Martin Scorsese's
remake of "Cape Fear." He also appeared in his final film, "Other People's Money."
| ABOVE: Peck tends to Camilla Sparv in the Western adventure, "MacKenna's Gold." BELOW: A nun tries to explain to Peck the nuances of the Antichrist and Satan in the Richard Donner horror, "The Omen." |
Interestingly, throughout his entire career, Peck was never under contract to any of the major studios, even at the height of the studio system in the 1940s. A
free agent, Gregory Peck was able to get roles in a vast variety of projects where studio players were pigeonholed. Sadly, Peck passed away in 2003, only a few
years after the acclaimed 2000 documentary, "A Conversation With Gregory Peck," premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Peck was 87 and left behind an
unforgettable body of work.
free agent, Gregory Peck was able to get roles in a vast variety of projects where studio players were pigeonholed. Sadly, Peck passed away in 2003, only a few
years after the acclaimed 2000 documentary, "A Conversation With Gregory Peck," premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Peck was 87 and left behind an
unforgettable body of work.
| FOR MORE ON GREGORY PECK, VISIT: http://www.jefflangonline.com/peck/ |
