Consumer
Knowledge
Knowledge
Gregory Peck (1916-2003) enjoyed a long, successful career in Hollywood. The La Jolla, California, native made his motion picture debut in Days of Glory (1944), appearing as a Russian partisan named Vladimir. In 1989, Peck was presented with a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.
Here are the ten best Gregory Peck movie characters. We begin in the Depression-era South...
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal, 1962)
Peck stars as lawyer Atticus Finch in this big screen version of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set in the 1930s. Finch agrees to defend Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a young black man who has been charged with raping a white girl in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Peck is nothing short of brilliant in the role, with Mary Badham, Philip Alford and Robert Duvall also on hand. "Horton Foote's script and the direction of Mr. [Robert] Mulligan may not penetrate that deeply, but they do allow Mr. Peck and little Miss Badham and Master Alford to portray delightful characters. Their charming enactments of a father and his children in that close relationship that can occur at only one brief period are worth all the footage of the film," observed Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (2/15/63). Gregory Peck won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance, the only one of his career.
Lobby card: Gregory Peck, left, in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Gregory Peck as General Frank Savage, Twelve O'Clock High (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1949)
Peck plays General Frank Savage, an American Army Air Forces officer who takes command of a troubled bomber group in England during World War II. General Savage struggles with horrendous combat losses as he tries to mold his unit into a disciplined fighting force, taking to the skies himself to lead several bombing missions over Germany. "Well, I can tell you right now what the problem is. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You've been looking at a lot of air lately, and you feel you need a rest. In short, you're feeling sorry for yourselves. Now I don't have a lot of patience with this 'what are we fighting for?' stuff. We're in a war, a shooting war. We've got to fight. And some of us have got to die," the hard-as-nails Savage tells his bomber crews. Peck earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Gregory Peck, left, with Dean Jagger in Twelve O'Clock High (1949) - Twentieth Century-Fox
Gregory Peck as Philip Schuyler Green, Gentleman's Agreement (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1947)
Peck appears as journalist Philip Green in this adaptation of the Laura Z. Hobson novel. A magazine hires Green to write a series of articles covering anti-Semitism in the United States. In order to tackle the subject thoroughly, Green pretends to be Jewish, experiencing first-hand the bigotry and prejudices of American society, including those of his publisher's niece (Dorothy McGuire). "... it is amazing that the writer who undertakes this probe should be so astonished to discover that anti-Semitism is cruel. Assuming that he is a journalist of some perception and scope, his imagination should have fathomed most of these sudden shocks long since. And although the role is crisply and agreeably played by Gregory Peck, it is, in a careful analysis, an extraordinarily naive role," complained Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (11/12/47). Peck earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Gregory Peck as Tom Rath, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1956)
Peck plays public relations man Tom Rath in this literate version of the best-selling novel by Sloan Wilson. Tom is looking for a better paying job, which leads him to business mogul Ralph Hopkins (Fredric March) and United Broadcast Company. But Tom, a paratrooper in World War II, is still haunted by his combat experiences, which includes the knifing of a German soldier behind enemy lines in order to confiscate the man's warm coat during the harsh European winter. Tom also fathered a boy with a young Italian woman during the war, a development which threatens his marriage to Betsy (Jennifer Jones).
Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) - Twentieth Century-Fox
Gregory Peck as Jimmy Ringo, The Gunfighter (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1950)
Peck plays Jimmy Ringo, an Old West gunslinger who is trying to live down his reputation. But Ringo is tested early when a young wannabe named Eddie (Richard Jaeckel) goads him into a gunfight at a saloon, where Jimmy drops him in his tracks. The deceased's brothers don't take kindly to the killing of their sibling, and plan their revenge. Also gunning for Ringo is another young gunslinging stud named Hunt Bromley (Skip Homeier). "Yeah, I heard about you. I heard you're a cheap, no-good barroom loafer. If I didn't have somethin' else on my mind I'd take them guns away from ya and slap ya cross-eyed," Peck's Ringo tells adversary Hunt Bromley.
Gregory Peck as Sam Bowden, Cape Fear (Universal, 1962)
Peck stars as attorney Sam Bowden in the big screen version of the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners. Sam, his wife Peggy (Polly Bergen) and young daughter Nancy (Lori Martin) become the subjects of a terror campaign launched by psychotic ex-con Max Cady (Robert Mitchum). Cady has just been released from prison and returns to town, hell-bent on extracting revenge from his former lawyer. "You shocking degenerate. I've seen the worst – the dregs – but you... you are the lowest. Makes me sick to breathe the same air," Sam tells Cady at a bar.
One sheet movie poster: Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (1962) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Gregory Peck as Commander Dwight Towers, On the Beach (United Artists, 1959)
Peck plays Commander Dwight Towers, the skipper of an American nuclear-powered submarine which surfaces in Melbourne Harbor following an atomic war waged in the northern hemisphere. The radiation, however, is slowly making its way south to Australia, where the last known survivors are preparing for the end. Commander Towers, who lost his wife and family back in Connecticut, strikes up a relationship with Moira Davidson (Ava Gardner), returning to her following a mission up north to check out a strange radio signal emanating from the kill zone. "The cast is almost uniformly excellent. Peck and Gardner make a good romantic team in the last days of the planet," reported Variety (12/2/59).
Gregory Peck as Father Francis Chisholm, The Keys of the Kingdom (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1944)
Peck plays Father Francis Chisholm, a Catholic missionary who establishes a parish in China. While there, Father Chisholm's faith is sorely tested, as he encounters native hostility, disease and abject poverty. "Gregory Peck, a tall and spare newcomer, gives a quiet and forceful performance in the role of the priest and carries a fine impression of godly devotion and dignity," offered Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (12/30/44). Peck, in what was only his second film appearance, earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Title lobby card: Gregory Peck in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab, Moby Dick (Warner Bros., 1956)
Peck plays Captain Ahab in this big screen adaptation of the classic Herman Melville novel. Ahab is a man possessed, now sporting a peg leg from a deadly encounter with a whale named Moby Dick and vowing revenge against this seafaring monster. Nothing will stop Ahab in his quest, as he endangers both his life and the lives of his crew searching for Moby Dick. "Sleep? That bed is a coffin, and those are winding sheets. I do not sleep, I die," Peck's Ahab tells his first mate after the latter suggested he turn in for the night.
Spanish one sheet movie poster: Gregory Peck in Moby Dick (1956) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Gregory Peck as Penny Baxter, The Yearling (MGM, 1946)
Peck plays Penny Baxter in this screen version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Baxter is a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, now living on his own farm in the Florida Everglades with wife Orry (Jane Wyman) and 11-year-old son Jody (Claude Jarman Jr.). When a fawn becomes orphaned Jody is allowed to adopt the young deer, with the two becoming inseparable. "Equally important, however, is the performance of Gregory Peck as Penny, the warm and gentle father who knows that 'a boy ain't a boy fer long.' Although he measures several inches taller than Mrs. Rawlings original Pa, he fills out every one of them with simple dignity and strength," opined Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (1/24/47).
Ten More Memorable Gregory Peck Movie Roles
Lobby card: Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (1953) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Top Image
Another great line up of movies and characters. Gregory Peck was one of the greats. I've seen all of these movies many times and will watch them many more times. Those were the days when the acting made the movie a success and not the special effects.
Thank you dear William for this movie information. I want to be in your support.
Have you tried Wikinut yet? Write about whatever you like and get paid royalties - http://www.wikinut.com/in/zecgg/