Beverly Hills, June 14: Gregory Peck, one of the last great stars from Hollywood`s golden era and a man who embodied on-screen heroism and dignity, died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87 and his films included some of Hollywood`s most memorable: "To Kill a Mockingbird," in which he played a white lawyer defending a black man, "Roman Holiday," the film that made Audrey Hepburn a star, "Gentleman`s Agreement," one of the first movies to confront the taboo subject of anti-Semitism, and Alfred Hitchcock`s "Spellbound." Spokesman Monroe Friedman said Peck`s French-born wife of 48 years, Veronique Passani Peck, was at his side when he died. "I just feel very sad. He was a Hollywood icon, an incredible actor, someone who Hollywood and his fans all over the world will miss," said Los Angeles parking enforcement officer Barbara Hartsfield who was working near Peck`s star where fans were leaving flowers. Peck`s death came just days after the American Film Institute named his role as the idealistic Southern lawyer Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" as the greatest movie hero of all time. The role earned Peck an Oscar for best actor in 1963. The tall, lean, square-jawed Peck began his film career in the 1940s and became Hollywood`s symbol of moral strength and sincerity both on screen and off. At one point, Democrats tried to persuade him to run for governor of California -- a role that Republicans later succeeded in casting Ronald Reagan for. The California-born Peck, who once thought of becoming a priest, attended a military academy as a boy and his soldier-like bearing served him well in such roles as Captain Ahab of "Moby Dick," King David ("David and Bathsheba"), Gen. Douglas MacArthur ("MacArthur") and even Abraham Lincoln (television`s "The Blue and the Gray"). Rarely in his 52 films did he play anything but a "good guy," a notable exception being the Nazi villain in the popular "The Boys From Brazil" (1978). He earned a total of five Oscar nominations even though critics could be unkind. The New Yorker`s Pauline Kael once labeled Peck "competent, but always a little boring." But John Huston, who directed Peck in "Moby Dick," echoed the comments of many in Hollywood when he praised the "superb dignity" of the actor`s performances. It took years before critics realized how good his performance as the mad sea captain was. Peck was active in the film industry, serving as founding chairman of the AFI and as head the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1967 to 1970. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson awarded him the Medal of Freedom, America`s highest civilian honour. With typical reserve, he once summed up his career this way: "I dream of making that perfect film and, every time you go to bat, you have the opportunity to make something as near perfect as you can." In 1944, he starred as a Russian guerrilla fighter in "Days of Glory," which led to a role the next year as a thoughtful priest in "The Keys of the Kingdom," a role that won him his first Oscar nomination. Among his early films were "The Yearling" (1946), "The Macomber Affair" (1947), "Duel in the Sun" (1947), "Yellow Sky" (1948), "Twelve O`Clock High" (1950), "The Gunfighter" (1950), "Captain Horatio Hornblower" (1951), "The World in His Arms" (1952), and "David and Bathsheba" (1951). In 1956, Peck starred in two of his most successful movies, "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" and "Moby Dick." In 1958, Peck co-produced and starred in "The Big Country," a success that was followed by the bigger ones of "The Guns of Navarone" (a 1962 war thriller) and "To Kill a Mockingbird." Peck`s straight-backed style was perfect for the 1976 hit horror film "The Omen," as well as "MacArthur" (1977). His last two films were in "Old Gringo" (1989) and a cameo in "Cape Fear" in 1991. In 1954, Peck divorced first wife Greta Rice, with whom he had three children. In 1955, he married French journalist Veronique Passani, with whom he had two more children.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons from his first marriage and a son and daughter by Veronique, as well as several grandchildren.


Bureau Report