Remembering Gregory Peck
June 27, 2003
Most people will remember the late, great actor Gregory Peck for his role as Atticus Finch in the classic 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. But for my own part, I didn’t catch that performance and that film until later in life. I purposely avoided it.
When I was younger, I was always wary of stories about people of color involving white protagonists who save the day. I had no interest in watching the noble white man defend the helpless, uneducated black man. In high school, I refused to read Harper Lee’s book, on which the movie is based, for the same reason.
So unlike others, the Gregory Peck that I first came to know through the movies wasn’t the “noble” Gregory Peck of To Kill a Mockingbird. The Gregory Peck I knew was the evil Nazi, Joseph Mengele in The Boys From Brazil, the lusty cowboy who rapes Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun and the obsessed Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. The dark side of Peck was what I first saw.
Some critics have written that Peck wasn’t as believable as these “bad men.” They say his inherent morality or nobility always shines through. But that’s exactly what made Peck’s performances in the above-mentioned films so interesting to me. Peck’s villains were so effective because you felt there was always a goodness just below the surface that could break through under the right circumstances. This created a tension that increased the dramatic stakes.
When Peck did play more noble characters — in films like Gentlemen’s Agreement and Twelve O’ Clock High — his performances seemed effortless. These characters could easily have become caricatures or, at the very least, boring and one-dimensional. But they were compelling, full of life and humanity.
I think the key to Peck’s success was that we always felt he was one of us. As noble as his characters may have been, as noble as he himself may have been as a man, he always seemed accessible. He may have been a movie star but he always seemed like a regular guy at heart. And a damned decent one.
In real life, he was a liberal man whom even hard-core conservatives like Charlton Heston and Ronald Reagan couldn’t help but respect and admire. He gave millions of dollars to causes he believed in and worked tirelessly on behalf of issues he felt passionate about, like nuclear disarmament. He was on the council of governors for the APA theatre group East West Players.
A few years ago, following the death of screen legend James Stewart, I had a chance to talk to legendary film director Billy Wilder (whose films include Some Like It Hot and Sunset Boulevard and who himself passed away last year). Wilder remarked that we would soon lose all of our legendary screen icons.
“Luckily, three of the greatest are still alive,” he said. I asked who they were.
“Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall and Katherine Hepburn,” was the reply.
And now we’ve lost another one.
By the way, I finally did see To Kill a Mockingbird a few years ago. It’s a magnificent performance by a magnificent man. When Peck’s Atticus Finch steps out of the courtroom at the conclusion of the trial and the African American men and women watching from the rear rise to their feet as a show of respect, it’s no longer about the white hero saving the helpless black souls. It’s about a man of principle who tried to help humanity through his art and his life.
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