Gregory Peck (1916–2003) was an American actor who had an extensive career in film, television, radio, and on stage. Peck's breakthrough role was as a Catholic priest who attempts to start a mission in China in the 1944 film The Keys of the Kingdom, for which he received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In the same year, he played Count Vronsky in a radio adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. He followed this by starring in Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller Spellbound (1945) with Ingrid Bergman. In the late 1940s, Peck received three more nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles as a caring father in The Yearling (1946), a journalist who pretends to be Jewish to write an exposé on American antisemitism in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), and a brave airman in Twelve O'Clock High (1949).
Peck co-founded the theatre company La Jolla Playhouse in 1947 with Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer. He starred in productions of Angel Street and The Male Animal for the company. In 1951, he played Royal Navy officer Horatio Hornblower in the eponymous film, David in the biblical epic David and Bathsheba with Susan Hayward, and a soldier in the western Only the Valiant with Barbara Payton. Two years later, Peck appeared as a journalist who falls in love with a princess in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) with Audrey Hepburn. During the late 1950s, he portrayed Captain Ahab in Moby Dick (1956), war hero Joseph G. Clemons in Pork Chop Hill (1959), and writer F. Scott Fitzgerald in Beloved Infidel (1959).
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Atticus Finch, a lawyer attempting to exonerate a black man wrongly accused of rape in courtroom drama To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). The role topped the AFI's 50 Greatest Screen Heroes. Seven years later, he appeared in the title role of the western Mackenna's Gold, and as a spy in The Chairman. In the late 1970s, Peck played General Douglas MacArthur in the eponymous 1977 film and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in The Boys from Brazil (1978).
Peck made his television debut in 1982 by appearing as President Abraham Lincoln in the miniseries The Blue and the Gray. He followed this with the television film The Scarlet and the Black where he portrayed Catholic priest Hugh O'Flaherty who helped Jews and prisoners of war to hide in World War II-era Rome. For his appearance as Father Mapple in the 1998 miniseries Moby Dick, he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy.
Film
YearTitleRole(s) Notes 1944Days of GloryVladimirAcademy Award for Best Actor (Nomination)1945Spellbound / John Ballantyne1946Academy Award for Best Actor (Nomination)Duel in the Sun1947Gentleman's AgreementAcademy Award for Best Actor (Nomination)1948Yellow Sky1949FedyaTwelve O'Clock HighAcademy Award for Best Actor (Nomination)19501951Captain Horatio HornblowerOnly the ValiantDavid and BathshebaDavidPictura: An Adventure in ArtNarratorDocumentary; anthology film, segment: "Legend of Saint Ursula"195219521953Roman HolidayBoum sur ParisHimselfFrench film1954Night People1956Moby Dick1957Designing Woman1958NarratorDocumentaryAlso producer1959Pork Chop HillAlso executive producerBeloved InfidelOn the Beach19611962Cape FearAlso executive producerHow the West Was WonTo Kill a MockingbirdAlso executive producer Academy Award for Best Actor (Won)1963Captain Newman, M.D.Also executive producer1964Behold a Pale HorseJohn F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of DrumsNarratorDocumentary1965Mirage1966Arabesque19681969Mackenna's GoldMackennaMarooned1970I Walk the Line1971Shoot Out1972—Producer1974Billy Two Hats—Producer19761977MacArthur197819801987Amazing Grace and ChuckPresident1989Old Gringo1989Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl WarrenNarratorDocumentary1991Other People's MoneyCape Fear 1994NarratorDocumentary1995Wild Bill: Hollywood MaverickHimself1999NarratorDocumentary short film2000HimselfDocumentary2024Archival footage
Television
Year(s)TitleRole(s) Notes 1982Television miniseries1983 Monsignor Hugh O'FlahertyTelevision film1985—Producer1990Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept SecretHimselfDocumentary1991Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other DaysNarratorDocumentary1993Television film; also executive producer1994Baseball and Connie MackVoice, Documentary miniseries1998Moby DickTelevision miniseries1999American Prophet: The Story of Joseph SmithNarratorDocumentary
Stage Year(s) Title RoleTheatre Notes 1942Morosco TheatreSeptember 14 – October 31942–1943 and Robin ToddWindsor TheatreDecember 10, 1942 – January 2, 19431943Sons and SoldiersMorosco TheatreMay 4–221947Angel Street La Jolla PlayhouseAugust 26–311948August 24–281949Light Up the SkyUnknownJuly 26–311991–1993 (voice)Palace TheatreMay 1, 1991 – September 5, 1993
Radio
Year(s) Title Role Notes 1944That They Might LiveDickScreen Guild PlayersEpisode: "Anna Karenina"1945This Is My BestUnknownEpisode: "Jupiter Laughs"Screen Guild PlayersEpisode: "Romance"Episode: "Medicine for the Enemy"1946Theatre of RomanceEpisode: "Intermezzo"Lux Radio TheatreEpisode: "Valley of Decision"Lux Radio TheatreEpisode: "Now, Voyager"Cavalcade of AmericaEpisode: "Young Major Washington"SuspenseEpisode: "The Lonely Road"Hollywood PlayersSullivanEpisode: "Sullivan's Travels"Hollywood PlayersUnknownEpisode: "No Time for Comedy"Hollywood PlayersGregoryEpisode: "All Through the House"1947Screen Guild PlayersEpisode: "The Yearling"Cavalcade for AmericaEpisode: "School for Men"1948Duffy's TavernHimselfSuspenseEpisode: "Hitchhiker Poker"1949SuspenseEpisode: "Murder Through the Looking Glass"Screen Directors PlayhouseEpisode: "Yellow Sky"SuspenseBenEpisode: "Nightmare"Episode: "The Man Who Came To Dinner"1951Screen Directors PlayhouseEpisode: "The Gunfighter"SuspenseEpisode: "The Truth About Jerry Baxter"1952Cavalcade of AmericaUnknownEpisode: "A Prisoner Named Brown"Lux Radio TheatreEpisode: "Captain Horatio Hornblower"Stars in the AirEpisode: "The Yearling"
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