I forgot to post this last week.
Oscar-winning movie legend Gregory Peck dead at 87
Fri Jun 13,11:29 AM ET Add Entertainment - AFP to My Yahoo!
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - One of Hollywood's last great leading men, Gregory Peck (news), famed for his heroic roles in such classics as "To Kill a Mockingbird," died at the age of 87.
Peck, known for his quiet dignity, became an icon of cinema's golden era with starring roles in more than 60 films, including "Roman Holiday," "Cape Fear" and "Spellbound" and won the best actor Oscar for "Mockingbird" in 1962.
A classic star who became a respected elder statesmen of cinema, Peck died peacefully in his Los Angeles home at 4:00am Thursday (1200 GMT) with his French-born wife of 48 years, Veronique, holding his hand, publicist Monroe Friedman said.
His death is a stunning loss to the movie industry and cuts one of the last remaining links to Hollywood's golden age.
"He was one of the great leading men of all time. His name became part of the English language. He was like a monument, not a man, he was one of the touchstones of cinema all over the world," Friedman said.
Peck retired from active filmmaking several years ago but was in good health, Friedman said, denying rumours that he had been ill.
Actor Charlton Heston (news), who starred with Peck in 1948's "Big Country," mourned the loss of his friend.
"Gregory Peck was one of those few great actors of generosity, humor, toughness and spirit," he said adding that Peck "faced life's challenges with great vigor and courage."
French actor Louis Jourdan, a friend of Peck's for more than 50 years, was saddened by his death. "He was an exceptional man, an implacable man," he said. "I more than loved him. I admired him immensely."
Nominated for five Oscars (news - web sites) in a career spanning nearly 60 years, the velvet-voiced Peck became synonymous with morally courageous heroes such as Atticus Finch, the right-minded southern lawyer in "To Kill A Mockingbird."
"They'll probably even put it on my tombstone," Friedman recalled Peck once saying. And he may have been right. Last week, the American Film Institute (news - web sites) named Peck's character in the movie as the greatest screen hero of all time.
The handsome actor, born Eldred Gregory Peck in the southern California city of La Jolla in April 1916, shot to stardom in the 1940s and remained in the spotlight for the rest of his life, never touched by scandal.
Setting out to become a doctor, student Peck soon switched majors to English literature and began a lifelong passion for acting.
After moving to New York in 1939, he badly injured his back in a fall while studying with legendary dancer Martha Graham, an accident that was to prove fateful for Hollywood.
Barred from military service by the injury, Peck made his Broadway debut in a 1942 drama which won him glowing reviews and Hollywood came a-knocking two years later.
As one of the few actors who was not in uniform, Peck won leading roles in movies including "Keys of the Kingdom" (1944) which won him his first Oscar nomination.
He worked with top directors John Huston (news) in "Moby Dick," Alfred Hitchcock (news) in "Spellbound" in 1946, King Vidor (news) in "Duel in the Sun" (1946) and Elia Kazan (news) in "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947), which got him a second Oscar nod.
And he went on to win further Academy Award nominations for best actor for "12 O'Clock High" (1949) and "The Yearling" (1946) before finally winning the coveted award when he was 45.
Known for his portrayals of upright men of moral fortitude, he occasionally departed from that character slot, as in the role of Nazi war criminal, Doctor Josef Mengele, in "The Boys from Brazil" (1978).
Peck worked until 1998 -- when he made his last TV movie, a cameo role in a remake of "Moby Dick," and was famously paired with such leading ladies such as Audrey Hepburn (news) in "Roman Holiday" and Ingrid Bergman (news) in "Spellbound."
In another odd flashback to his glory days, he also took a cameo part in Martin Scorsese (news)'s 1991 remake of "Cape Fear."
Peck, who worked tirelessly for charities, has been compared by those who knew him with the heroes he played on screen, but he rejected the comparison.
"I'm not nearly as confident as those hero characters are. Sometimes I've been courageous, and sometimes less so."
In recent years he indulged in his passion for watching basketball, reading, writing and relaxing at home.
Peck leaves his wife, four children from two marriages and several grandchildren. Plans for his funeral have yet to be announced.
Actor Brock Peters (L) is shown in this February 2, 1998 file photograph in Beverly Hills with actor Gregory Peck (news) after a screening of their 1962 film 'To Kill A Mockingbird.' Peck died at his Los Angeles home at age 87 on June 11, 2003. Peters is scheduled to deliver the eulogy at a public memorial mass for Peck on June 16 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels. Peters portrayed 'Tom Robinson (news)' in the film in which Peck won an Academy Award for his portrayal of small town lawyer. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/Files
RIP Gregory Peck
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