Apr 5, 1916

La Jolla, California, USA

Gregory Peck is an Oscar-winning American film actor. He was one of 20th Century Pictures' most popular film stars, from the 1940s to the 1960s, and played important roles well into the 1990s. He is most well-known for his portrayal of Atticus Finch in the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an Academy Award. He was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his lifetime humanitarian efforts.
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Peck's first film was Days of Glory, released in 1944. Though m... ... (read more...) any critics initially dismissed Peck's acting as wooden, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor five times, four of which came in his first five years of film acting: for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), and Twelve O'Clock High (1949). Peck won the Academy award for his fifth nomination, playing the role of Atticus Finch, a Depression-era lawyer and widowed father, in the film adaptation of the Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Released in 1962 during the height of the US civil rights movement in the South, this movie and his role were Peck's favorite.
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On June 12, 2003, Peck died in his sleep from cardiorespiratory arrest, and bronchial pneumonia, at the age of 87 in Los Angeles. He is survived by his second wife, Veronique Passani, their son and daughter, and two of his three sons from his first marriage.