ACTOR
Gregory Peck
- Known for
- The Guns of Navarone (1961), Spellbound (1945), Cape Fear (1962), The Boys from Brazil (1978)
123 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Gregory Peck is an actor best known for The Guns of Navarone, Spellbound and Cape Fear.
62 Interesting Facts About Gregory Peck
- #001
In 1996, Richard Jaeckel, Peck's veteran character-actor co-star in The Gunfighter (1950), was diagnosed with cancer, and his wife had Alzheimer's disease. The Jaeckels had lost their Brentwood home and were more than $1 million in debt, leaving them nearly homeless. The family tried unsuccessfully to place him in the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital; when Peck lobbied for Jaeckel's admission, he was treated within three days. Jaeckel remained at the hospital until his death on 14.6.97.
- #002
After the death of his former co-star Ava Gardner on 25.1.90, Gregory Peck took in her maid and her dog.
- #006
During his lean years, Gregory Peck supported himself as a Radio City Music Hall tour guide and as a catalog model for Montgomery Ward.
- #007
Gregory Peck's character in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Atticus Finch, was named the greatest screen hero of all time by the American Film Institute in May 2003, just two weeks before Peck's death, beating Indiana Jones in second place and James Bond in third.
- #008
According to at least one biography, Gregory Peck took his role in The Omen (1976) for a large pay cut (only $250,000) but secured 10% of the film's box office gross. It grossed more than $60 million in the US alone and became the highest-earning film of his career.
- #009
In 1972, Gregory Peck appeared on President Richard Nixon's famous "enemies list".
- #011
Gregory Peck turned down the role in Let's Make Love (1960) that went to Yves Montand because he did not want to work with Marilyn Monroe.
- #015
After making Arabesque (1966), Gregory Peck stepped away from acting for three years to focus on various humanitarian causes, including the American Cancer Society.
- #018
Gregory Peck marched with Martin Luther King Jr.
- #020
In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Gregory Peck 12th among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
- #022
During the filming of Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Gregory Peck clashed with director Elia Kazan. Kazan told the press he was deeply disappointed in Peck's performance, and the two men never worked together again.
- #023
In 1999, after the Columbine High School massacre, Gregory Peck openly scolded Congress for failing to pass a law preventing young people from buying guns.
- #026
Gregory Peck appears on a non-denominational US commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series issued on April 28, 2011. Peck is shown as the character Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). It cost 44¢ on the day of issue. First-day ceremonies were held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- #032
In 1969, Gregory Peck received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, awarded by Lyndon B. Johnson.
- #033
Gregory Peck's performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) ranked 13th on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
- #034
Gregory Peck served as National Chairman of the American Cancer Society in 1966.
- #035
Peck, along with Peter Ustinov, heaped praise on his friend and two-time co-star David Niven.
- #037
With Veronique Peck, he had two children: Tony Peck (b. 1956) and Cecilia Peck (b. 1958).
- #039
He opposed nuclear weapons throughout his life, and for that reason he made On the Beach (1959).
- #040
The financial failure of Cape Fear (1962) brought an end to his company, Melville Productions.
- #041
In the early 1990s he considered writing his autobiography. However, after realizing he was not as good a writer as his friend David Niven, he gave up on the idea.
- #043
He was an active supporter of creating an AIDS fund.
- #044
He was voted the 12th greatest actor on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Greatest Screen Legends.
- #047
In a 1987 interview, he admitted that he had an affair with Ingrid Bergman during the filming of Spellbound (1945).
- #048
He was cast by producer Darryl F. Zanuck in the epic film David and Bathsheba (1951) because Zanuck thought Peck had a "biblical face."
- #049
The two people Gregory Peck most regretted never working with were John Ford and Greta Garbo.
- #051
Gregory Peck always wanted to appear in a William Shakespeare play, but when the opportunity arose in 1951, he decided it was too late for him to begin.
- #057
Brock Peters delivered the eulogy at Gregory Peck's funeral and burial on 16.06.05. In To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Peters played Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a white girl whom Atticus Finch (Peck's character) defends in court.
- #058
While making The Bravados (1958), Gregory Peck decided to become a real-life cowboy and bought a large working ranch near Santa Barbara, CA, already stocked with 600 head of prize cattle.
- #060
Gregory Peck strongly opposed the use of atomic weapons in World War II, believing that a naval blockade would starve Japan into unconditional surrender.
- #062
In 1948, amid the anti-Communist hysteria sweeping the country during the McCarthy "Red Scare", Peck was summoned before a "fact-finding committee" set up by the California State Legislature to expose alleged communists and their "sympathizers" in the entertainment industry. Along with several other stars, Peck received a subpoena because of his association with a number of "liberal" organizations and causes. He gave the committee a list of all the organizations he had contributed money to, along with their letterheads, and said he had made those contributions because they were legitimate organizations. He told the committee, "I am not now and never have been associated with any communist organization or any supporter of communism. I am not a communist, I have never been a communist, and I have no sympathy for communist activities."
- #064
Gregory Peck was honorary chairman of the Los Angeles Library Foundation.
- #066
Gregory Peck's election as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1967 was seen as heralding a new, younger, more progressive and decidedly liberal era of filmmaking in Hollywood.
- #067
After Charlton Heston turned down the offer to make Midway (1976), Gregory Peck was given the role of Ambassador Robert Thorn in The Omen (1976).
- #068
Gregory Peck personally chose Lewis Milestone to direct the anti-war film Pork Chop Hill (1959), because Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) had made a deep impression on him.
- #073
In 1962 Peck appeared in the original version of Cape Fear (1962), playing Sam Bowden. He was later brought back for another version of Cape Fear (1991), playing Max Cady's lawyer.
- #076
For their groundbreaking 1996 comic book Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross based the design of the older Bruce Wayne/Batman on Peck. Frank Miller also based the design of the young Bruce in his iconic story Batman: Year One on him.
- #077
According to Lewis Milestone, Pork Chop Hill (1959) was cut by nearly twenty minutes because Peck's wife felt that her husband made his first appearance in the picture too late. Whether or not this is true, the film shows signs of post-production tampering, along with flashes of several cut scenes beneath the main title credits.
- #079
Peck was a leading opponent of US intervention in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He believed the United States should have maintained good relations with the Soviet Union and China after the Second World War.
- #080
John Wayne was reportedly offered two of Peck's most iconic roles, which he turned down: The Gunfighter (1950) and Twelve O'Clock High (1949).
- #082
Peck's children with Greta Kukkonen were Jonathan Peck (1944-75), Stephen Peck (b. 1946) and Carey Paul Peck (b. 1949).
- #083
Peck seriously considered challenging then-California Governor Ronald Reagan's 1970 re-election campaign, but decided against it at the last minute despite pressure from the California Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee at both state and national level.
- #084
While filming Yellow Sky (1948), Peck fell from a horse and broke his ankle in three places.
- #085
In 1987 Peck joined Burt Lancaster, Martin Sheen and Lloyd Bridges in narrating a TV commercial for People for the American Way, opposing the confirmation of President Ronald Reagan's Supreme Court nominee, the ultra-conservative judge Robert Bork. Bork, who had come under heavy criticism for his loud opposition to civil rights legislation in the past, was ultimately not confirmed by the Senate.
- #086
Gregory Peck was a close friend and ardent supporter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, spending a great deal of time at the White House and the Johnson Ranch. Toward the end of Johnson's presidency, however, relations between the two men grew strained because of Peck's outspoken opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
- #087
Gregory Peck was offered the role of Detective Steve McGarrett in Hawaii Five-O (1968) but turned it down. The part went to Jack Lord.
- #088
In 1971, Gregory Peck was Chairman of the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund.
- #089
Gregory Peck agreed to appear in David and Bathsheba (1951) as a response to Cecil B. DeMille's biblical epics.
- #091
Gregory Peck studied acting with Michael Chekhov, who would later play a supporting role in Spellbound (1945).
- #094
Gregory Peck was first cast in Quo Vadis (1951) in the role played by Robert Taylor opposite Elizabeth Taylor. The film was shot in Rome for about two weeks under John Huston's direction until the studio halted production after executives were unhappy with the footage.
- #095
Gregory Peck was a founding member of the National Council on the Arts (1964-66).
- #096
Gregory Peck was a close friend of former French President Jacques Chirac.
- #097
Gregory Peck once owned a thoroughbred named "Different Class," which was the favorite in the 1968 Grand National in the United Kingdom but finished third.
- #098
Gregory Peck campaigned for Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election.
- #103
In 1979, Gregory Peck was inducted into the Great Western Performers Hall of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
- #106
Gregory Peck traveled to Alabama to campaign for Donald W. Stewart, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate running in a special election to complete the term of U.S. Senator James B. Allen, who died in office. Stewart won the seat.
- #109
Until the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Gregory Peck strongly opposed the possibility of the United States entering World War II.
- #111
While studying at UC Berkeley, Gregory Peck worked as a waiter at the school's Gamma Phi Beta sorority house.
- #113
Gregory Peck played a lawyer in four films: The Paradine Case (1947), Cape Fear (1962), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Cape Fear (1991).
- #116
Gregory Peck was a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, awarded by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation (1986).
- #120
On 14.08.2021, Gregory Peck was honored with a filmography tribute during Turner Classic Movies' Summer Under the Stars event.
- #123
Three of the American Film Institute's 100 most thrilling films star Gregory Peck: Cape Fear (1962) at No. 61, The Omen (1976) at No. 81 and The Guns of Navarone (1961) at No. 89.
Continue through the archive
- The Guns of Navaroneas Capt. Keith Mallory
- The Boys from Brazilas Dr. Josef Mengele
- Cape Fearas Sam Bowden
- How the West Was Wonas Cleve Van Valen (segment: The Plains)
- Spellboundas John Ballantyne
- The Big Countryas James McKay
- Moby Dickas Captain Ahab
- On the Beachas Cmdr. Dwight Lionel Towers
- Twelve O'Clock Highas Gen. Savage
- The Paradine Caseas Anthony Keane
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