Full name, Eldred Gregory Peck; born April 5, 1916, in La Jolla, CA; died June 12, 2003, in Los Angeles, CA. Actor and producer. Starring in such classicfilms as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Yearling, and Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, award-winning actor Peck appeared in countless films, often portraying morally upright, strong characters. Peck began his actingcareer on stage in New York City in the early 1940s. Soon after making his film debut in Days of Glory in 1944, Peck starred as a priest in TheKeys of the Kingdom (1944), a performance that won him his first AcademyAward nomination. Other notable films in which Peck appeared in the 1940s and1950s include Twelve O'Clock High (1949), The Gunfighter (1950), and Roman Holiday (1953) with Audrey Hepburn. Peck turned in one ofhis finest performances as Atticus Finch in the film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). The role won Peck an Academy Award for best actor, and later, in 2003, the American Film Institute ranked the character as the top hero in the history of film. In the 1970s Peck actedin such films as The Omen, MacArthur, and The Boys from Brazil. Though Peck's appearances lessened in the 1980s and 1990s, he continued to work, starring in the film Old Gringo as well as in the television miniseries The Blue and the Gray in 1982 and Moby Dick in 1998. In addition to acting, Peck was active in liberal political causes and fought for nuclear disarmament and gun control. He was married to his second wife, Veronique Passani, for 48 years and had five children.
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