Peck was born in La Jolla, California. His father was a druggist in San Diego. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother. He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fond memories are of his grandmother taking him to the movies every week and of his dog, which followed him everywhere. He studied pre-med at Berkeley and, while there, Peck got the acting bug and decided to change the focus of his studies. He enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and debuted on Broadway after graduation. His debut was in Emlyn Williams' stage play "The Morning Star" (1942). By 1943, he was in Hollywood where he debuted in the RKO film Days of Glory.

Stardom came with his next film, The Keys of the Kingdom, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Peck's screen presence displayed the qualities for which he became well known. He was tall, rugged, and heroic, with a basic decency that transcended his roles. He appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound as the amnesia victim accused of murder. In The Yearling, Peck was again nominated for the Academy Award and won the Golden Globe. Peck appeared in Westerns such as Duel in the Sun, _Yellow Sky (1949)_ and The Gunfighter. He was nominated again for the Academy Award with his roles in Gentleman's Agreement, a story of discrimination, and Twelve O'Clock High, a story of high level stress at bomber command.

With a string of hits behind him, Peck soon took the decision to only work in films that interested him. He continued to appear as the heroic figures in larger-than-life films such as Captain Horatio Hornblower and Moby Dick. He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her debut film, Roman Holiday. After four nominations, Peck finally won the Oscar for his performance as Lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. In the early 60s, he appeared in two dark films, Cape Fear and Captain Newman, M.D., which dealt with the way people live. He also gave a powerful performance as Captain Keith Mallory in The Guns of Navarone, one of the biggest cinematic hits of that year.

In the early 70s, he produced two movies, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine and The Dove, while his film career waned. He made a comeback playing the wooden Robert Thorn in the horror film The Omen. After that, he returned to the bigger than life roles as MacArthur and the evil Doctor Mengele in The Boys from Brazil. In the 80s, Peck moved into television with the mini series The Blue and the Gray and the movie The Scarlet and the Black. In 1991, he appeared in the remake of his 1962 film, playing a different part, in Cape Fear. He was also cast as the liberal owner of a wire and cable business in Other People's Money.

In 1967, Peck received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was also been awarded the Medal of Freedom. Always politically liberal, Peck was active in causes dealing with charities, politics or the film industry. He died in June 2003, aged 87.
The Purple Plain (1954): $250,000
Man with a Million (1953): $250,000
Only the Valiant (1951): $60,000
Days of Glory (1944): $10,000

His earliest movie memory is of being so scared by The Phantom of the Opera at age 9 that his grandmother allowed him to sleep in the bed with her that night. U.C. Berkeley graduate (BA '39) Oarsman on Cal's JV crew team. Of his own movies, To Kill a Mockingbird is Peck's favourite. Children, with Kukkonen, Jonathan (b. 1944 - d. 1975)' Stephen Peck (IV)' (b. 1945) Carey Paul Peck (b. 1949). Children with Veronique Passani: Tony Peck (b. 1956) and Cecilia Peck (b. 1958). Recipient, Screen Actor's Award (from the Screen Actor's Guild, for his "outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals in the acting profession. Recipient, American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. [1989] Oldest son, Jon, committed suicide by gunshot. [1975] Chairman, Motion Picture & Television Relief Fund. [1971] Recipient, Presidential Medal of Freedom, nation's highest civilian award, awarded by Lyndon Johnson. [1969] Charter Member, National Council on the Arts. [1968-1974] President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. [1967] Special Academy Award - Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. [1967] National Chairman, American Cancer Society. [1966] Charter Member, National Council on the Arts. [1964-1966] Chairman, American Film Institute. He was the first Chairman of the AFI. [1967-1969] Claiming he was worried about the 600,000 jobs hanging on the survival of the Chrysler Corporation, he volunteered to become an unpaid TV pitchman for the company in 1980. He took in former co-star Ava Gardner's housekeeper and dog after her death in 1990. Was in the original version of Cape Fear in 1962, playing Sam Bowden. He was later brought back for a part in the 1991 version, playing Cady's Attorney. Honorary chair, Los Angeles Library Foundation. [1995] Was President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences during the late 1960s, and he was the one who decided to postpone the 1968 Oscar ceremony after Martin Luther King's assassination. Chosen by producer Darryl F. Zanuck for the epic film David and Bathsheba because Zanuck thought Peck had a "biblical face". His paternal grandmother, Catherine Ashe, was an immigrant from County Kerry, Ireland. She was a relative of Thomas Ashe, an Irish patriot who fought the in Easter Rising in 1916 and died on hunger strike the following year. Seriously considered challenging then California Governor Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign in 1970 but decided against it at the last minute despite state and national pressure from the Democrat Party of California and The Democratic National Committee. Marched with Martin Luther King. His character from To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, was voted the greatest screen hero of all time by the American Film Institute in May 2003, only two weeks before his death (beating out Indiana Jones, who was placed second, and James Bond who came third). Along with Dorothy McGuire, Mel Ferrer and David O. Selznick, he co-founded the La Jolla Playhouse, located in his hometown, and produced many of the classics there. Due to film commitments, he could not return to Broadway but whet his appetite for live theater on occasion at the Playhouse, keeping it firmly established with a strong, reputable name over the years. During his lean salad days, he supported himself as a Radio City Music Hall tour guide and as a catalog model for Montgomery Ward. Brock Peters delivered his eulogy on the day of his funeral and burial, June 16, 2003. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Peters played Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a white girl that Atticus Finch (Peck's character) defended in court. Was the first native Californian to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. A back injury incurred in college kept him out of the services in World War II. Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1979. Son, Stephen did a tour in Vietnam with the Marine Corps. Peck was proud of his son's military service even though he disagreed with the war itself. He had Catholic Armenian roots from his paternal grandfather, Sam "Peck", an immigrant from England. After he married his second wife, Veronique Passani, she had his ancestry traced and discovered the Armenian lineage. Urging him to learn of his partial Armenian heritage and to learn the Armenian language, he took Armenain classes in his middle age. But, by then, his public persona was fixed. "Gregory" is a common Indo-European name and Armenian surname (Gregorian or Krikorian) and was the name of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, Apostle of Armenia (332 AD). When he came to Italy to shoot Roman Holiday, Gregory was privately depressed about his recent separation and imminent divorce from his first wife, Greta. However, during the shot, he met and fell in love with a French woman named Veronique Passani. After his divorce, he married Passani and they remained together for the rest of his life. So, in a way, he lived out his own "movie romance". According to at least one biography, he took his role in The Omen at a huge cut in salary (a mere $250,000) but was guaranteed 10% of the film's box office take. When it went on to gross more than $60 million in the U.S. alone, The Omen produced the highest-paid performance of Peck's career. While studying at UC Berkeley, Peck was a houseboy for the school's chapter of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. He was voted the 58th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly. Attended San Diego High School. He was voted the 27th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Named the #12 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends list by the American Film Institute He was of British, Irish, Scottish and Armenian heritage. President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. [1967-1970] In late November of 2005, thieves stole Peck's "Hollywood Walk of Fame" star using a cement saw to cut the bronze-and-terrazzo marker out of the sidewalk. In a simple ceremony, a new star honoring the late actor was unveiled on December 1st to replace the one stolen by the brazen culprits. Hollywood's honorary mayor Johnny Grant lifted a covering and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly welcome back to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Gregory Peck." Peck's star was the fourth to be stolen since the Walk of Fame was inaugurated. James Stewart and Kirk Douglas' stars disappeared some years ago after being removed for construction and were later recovered by police in the nearby city of South Gate. Gene Autry's star also vanished during a construction project. A call saying it had been found in Iowa proved to be a false alarm. In late November 2005, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was stolen (not an easy undertaking as it required sawing out a concrete block). The star was replaced a few days later with a new one. He and The Big Country co-star, Charlton Heston, both played the infamous Nazi war criminal, Dr. Josef Mengele: Peck in The Boys from Brazil, Heston in Rua Alguem 5555: My Father. In the spring of 1939, Peck skipped graduation at the University of California at Berkeley and, with $160 and a letter of introduction in his pocket, went by train to New York, traveling coach, to embark on his acting career. Studied acting with Michael Chekhov Father-in-law of Daniel Voll. He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1998 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C. Was Warner Bros. original choice to play Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He was offered the role and seriously considered it but passed away before he could give them an answer. His performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird is ranked #13 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Cited that his favorite leading ladies were Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, and Ava Gardner. Once owned a thoroughbred named "Different Class," who was the favorite in the 1968 Grand National Steeplechase in the UK - but finished 3rd. To Kill a Mockingbird is the #2 ranked film on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. In 1997, as a presenter at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) awards ceremony, he said, "It just seems silly to me that something so right and simple has to be fought for at all." Mourners for the public service held after his burial beheld huge black-and-white portraits of Peck as they approached the Cathedral, designed by Robert Grayam, husband of Anjelica Huston. Church officials estimated almost 3,000 people attended. Seats were reserved for Peck's friends, a sizable number of whom were celebrities - they were instructed to whisper the secret password "Atticus" to the red-coated ushers who escorted them to the reserved section - Harry Belafonte, Anjelica Huston, Michael York, Louise Fletcher, Tony Danzy, Piper Laurie, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart. Michael Jackson, wearing a red jacket, caused a stir when he arrived twenty minutes late. Decked out in a bright blue suit and clutching a program with Peck's picture on it was his first wife Greta, looking hale and hearty at ninety-two. Cardinal Roger Michael Mahoney, Archbishop of Los Angeles, presided over the service. The program included bible readings by Peck's children Carey, Cecilia and Tony. Mahoney said, "He lived his life authentically, as God called and willed him and placed him in his room, with gifts and talents." Brock Peters, who co-starred with Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird, delivered the eulogy. The film spawned a close friendship between the two stars that lasted more than forty years. "In art there is compassion," said Peters, "in compassion there is humanity, with humanity there is generosity and love. Gregory Peck gave us these attributes in full measure." The crowd visibly warmed to a videotape performance of Peck featuring a lecture he gave several years before. He said he hoped to be remembered first as a good husband, father and grandfather. Then, with quiet strength and unforgettable presence, he added: "I'd like to be thought of as a good storyteller." He had always wanted to do a Disney movie.