Gregory Peck: A Life in Photos

Today is Gregory Peck's 110th birthday. Born in San Diego, California, on April 5, 1916, Peck grew up with an ambition to become a doctor. After graduating high school, he enrolled at the San Diego State Teacher's College, and later transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, as an English major and pre-medical student. His deep, well-modulated voice soon got him attention and he was encouraged to try acting, having appeared in five plays during his senior year at Berkeley. In 1939, lacking one course to receive his degree, he headed to New York City to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse with the legendary acting coach Sanford Meisner. His stage career began two years later, when he appeared in a Katharine Cornell production of George Bernard Shaw's play The Doctor's Dilemma, which opened in San Francisco just one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He made his Broadway debut in 1942, playing the lead in Emlyn Williams' The Morning Star.

 

Peck's continued success on stage led to him being offered his first film role at RKO, in the war romance Days of Glory (1944). His screen career quickly gained momentum with Academy Award-nominated performances in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and Twelve O'Clock High (1949). In the 1950s, he starred in a string of critical and commercial hits that earned him worldwide recognition. These include David and Batsheba (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Roman Holiday (1953), Moby Dick (1956) and On the Beach (1959). After another star turn in the acclaimed World War II drama The Guns of Navarone (1961), Peck delivered his most memorable performance, that of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. In the following decades, his career slowed down, but he continued to achieve success in films such as The Omen (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978), as well as on television.

 

With a career that spanned almost 60 years, he was named by the American Film Institute as the 12th greatest male star in Hollywood history. This is his life in photos. 

 

 

Circa 1930.

 

With his father, Gregory Pearl Peck, in 1933.

 

 With his first wife, Greta, in Nassau, Bahamas. Photo dated October 10, 1942.

 

Photographed by Ernest Bachrach in 1944.

With Ingrid Bergman during the making of Spellbound (1945).

 

With his first wife, Greta, and their son, Jonathan, at home in 1945. Photo by Phil Burchman.

 

Still from Duel in the Sun (1946). 

 

Playing golf in 1946. 

 

Publicity portrait for The Macomber Affair (1947). 

 

With 20th Century Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck during the making of Gentleman's Agreement (1947).

 

On the set of Yellow Sky (1948). 

 

In San Francisco circa 1948. 

 

Promotional photo for Twelve O'Clock High (1949). 

 

Still from The Gunfighter (1950).

 

Circa 1950.

 

With Ava Gardner in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952).
 

 

With Audrey Hepburn in a publicity still for Roman Holiday (1953).

  

 

With his sons — left to right: Stephen, 8; Jonathan, 10; and Carey, 6 — after a visit to the rodeo at Palm Springs. Photo dated February 10, 1955.

 

 

At the Foreign Press Awards at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, California, on February 24, 1955. Photo by Earl Leaf.

Portrait from circa 1955.

 

 

Photo dated June 28, 1956.

 

With Lauren Bacall on the first day of shooting Designing Woman (1957) at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Photo dated December 11, 1956.

 

 

Photographed by Richard C. Miller on the set of The Big Country (1958).

  

 

On the set of Beloved Infidel (1959).

 

With Ava Gardner in On the Beach (1959). 

 

Still from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

 

Holding his Oscar (for To Kill a Mockingbird) at the 35th Academy Awards on April 8, 1963. He is pictured with Sophia Loren, who presented him the award. 

 

 

In his garden in 1963. Photo by Leo Fuchs.

 

During the production of Behold a Pale Horse (1964) in France in 1963. 

 

 

With his second wife, Veronique, arriving at the 36th Academy Awards ceremony, held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, on April 13, 1964.

 

 With Sophia Loren during the production of Arabesque (1966) at Gatwick Airport, in West Sussex, England. Photo dated June 1, 1965.

 

With Robert F. Kennedy on the set of Mackenna's Gold (1969). Photo dated June 30, 1967.

 

 

Photographed by Ron Galella during a Hollywood Foreign Press conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on April 6, 1970.

 

 

Photo by the Evening Standard dated June 30, 1972. 

 

With Ava Gardner at a cafe in Earls Court, London, on July 3, 1973. Photo by the Daily Express.

 

 Photographed by Sondeep Shankar during an interview while shooting The Sea Wolves (1980) in New Delhi, India, in November 1979.

 

With Elizabeth Taylor and Liza Minnelli at the «Night of 100 Stars», an event held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on February 19, 1982,  to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Photo by Joe McNally.

 

Photographed by John Stoddart in 1989.

 

Receiving the Honorary Cesar on stage during the 20th Cesar Awards ceremony on February 25, 1995, in Paris, France. Photo by Stephane Cardinale.