VOICE Journal of the Alex Film Society Vol. 14, No. 1 February 2, 2008, 2 pm & 8 pm 02/08 of theTHEATRE Gregory Peck By Randy Carter has to age six decades over the course of the film regory Peck has and Zanuck thought Peck always been a could carry it off. Although Gleading man. He the film did well at the never played a waiter box office it didn’t recoup with two lines or a police Zanuck’s $3 million dollar officer who gets killed in investment. But Peck got an the first reel. A California Oscar® nomination for Best boy from La Jolla, he Actor and his position as a went to San Diego State top leading man was minted and Cal, did some college in only his second film. He theatre and headed to New would be nominated three York. A student of Sanford more times in the next four Meisner, he played the years for The Yearling (1946), lead in his first Broadway Gentleman’s Agreement production, “The Morning (1947) and Twelve O’ Clock Star”, a New York version High (1950). of a London hit by the Welsh actor/playwright Emlyn Williams. This was 1942 Gentleman’s Agreement teamed Peck with New Yorker and a few good notices, a round of Hollywood meetings Elia Kazan in a film about Anti-Semitism. Peck actually set up by his agent Leland Hayward, set the stage for played a gentile impersonating a Jew to observe the his first film role in the RKO production of Days of depth of prejudice in America. The film hasn’t aged Glory (1944). well with critics, but in its day it was a bold attempt to bring social issues to the big screen. Gary Fishgall The film about Russian partisans battling the Germans in his biography of the actor says that Kazan and didn’t make much of a dent at the box office, but 20th Peck didn’t mesh and the intense New Yorker found Century Fox production chief Darryl F. Zanuck looked Peck aloof and workmanlike, quite different from the at some of the rushes and cast the newcomer in his tightly wound Brandos and Steigers he preferred to production of A. J. Cronin’s best seller THE KEYS OF work with. They both shared a love of theatre and it THE KINGDOM. Zanuck paid over $100,000 for the was in the late 40’s that Peck devoted a great part of film rights, planned a prestige production, but found his free time to the creation and operation of the La that all of his contract stars, Tyrone Power, Henry Jolla Playhouse. Together with Dorothy McGuire (his Fonda, Victor Mature, Richard Greene and John Payne co-star in Gentleman’s Agreement) and Mel Ferrer they were serving in the Armed Forces. The Scottish priest Continued on Page 2 Gregory Peck ................................................ 1 Perspective: Harper Lee ............................ 7 Feature credits ............................................ 4 Short Subjects ............................................. 7 Photo Gallery .............................................. 5 Society News ............................................... 8 Perspective: Robert Duvall ....................... 6 Calendar ........................................................ 8 GREGORY PECK Cont’d from page 1 (1950), Roman Holiday (1953), Moby Dick (1956) and On the Beach (1959) were popular titles as he churned out one or two major productions per year, some co-produced with his partner, writer Sy Bartlett under their Melville Productions banner. Gregory Peck was by all accounts a thoughtful well-prepared actor who loved to research his characters, 12 O’Clock High (1950) presented a subscription series that over the years mounted productions The 1961 production of The Guns of “Born Yesterday”, “Summer and of Navarone was a big financial Smoke”, “Arsenic and Old Lace”, hit and garnered Greg yet another “The Front Page” and “Our Town” Oscar® nomination but it was and the roster of stars included merely a prelude to the film that Robert Ryan, Pat O’Brien, Ann became his personal favorite. Blyth, Jose Ferrer, Charlton Heston and Teresa Wright. Peck’s actual Harper Lee’s best selling novel TO involvement with the company KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, a portrait ended in 1964 but he remained of life in a 1930’s southern town a patron of the arts in La Jolla. still under the steaming thrall of racial bigotry was filmed entirely The 1950’s opened with Henry on the Universal back lot where Art King’s The Gunfighter, an adult Moby Dick (1956) Director Henry Bumstead salvaged version of the genre and one of the 30 homes set for destruction best westerns ever produced. He by eminent domain and built would return to the outdoors for The often scribbling copious notes on the courthouse, town square Bravados, a somber tale of revenge his script pages and researching the and home of Atticus Finch. history of people and events. Some directors appreciated this deliberate approach, others preferred actors who hit their mark, said their words and went to the bar for a drink. In postproduction he would have pages of notes on the edit, with suggestions for his character and the film as a whole. He was often wearing a producer hat so his notes had to be taken seriously. Peck The Gunfighter (1950) was deeply interested in his own Roman Holiday (1953) portrayals, but never at the expense of his fellow cast or the production. and co-produce The Big Country He was opinionated, but generous Gregory Peck recounts that he with William Wyler both released in and open to other points of view. rehearsed the final courtroom scene 1958. Captain Horatio Hornblower Continued on Page 3 www.AlexFilmSociety.org – – Vol. 14, No. 1 February , 008 Peck recounted that he rehearsed the final courtroom scene at home… ”perhaps over two to three hundred times.” the Rev. Daniel Berrigan’s trial at home… ”perhaps over two to earned him a prominent place on three hundred times.” When the Richard Nixon’s enemies list. cameras rolled, many of the extras and defendant Tom Robinson Peck was not really an enemy of (Brock Peters) were in tears. It the state and his work as President was an emotional experience of the Motion Picture Academy and the cast and crew realized and Chairman of the Motion that they had just watched an Picture Relief Fund were earnest award winning performance. commitments that raised millions of dollars for industry charities. the “James Bond, Beatles, Bob Dylan generation”. They tried to be topical but most efforts came off as ponderous and lame. Westerns no longer passed muster and attempts at comedy often lead to disaster. From 1964 to 1973 Peck appeared in a long string of box office failures: Captain Newman M.D., Behold a Pale Horse, Mirage, Arabesque, The Guns of Navarone (1961) The Stalking Moon, Mackenna’s Wife Veronique and Peck in 1963. Gold, The Chairman, Marooned, I In 1973 Gregory Peck returned to the Walk the Line, Shoot Out, and Billy studio where his career had begun Sophia Loren was at the podium in Two Hats. He stopped appearing in thirty years before under the tutelage the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium films and produced two pictures, of Darryl Zanuck. A deal had just as the nominees were announced The Trial of the Catonsville Nine fallen through with Charlton Heston and it was a tough year. Burt to appear in a feature for director Lancaster (Birdman of Alcatraz), Richard Donner. Lee Remick was on Jack Lemmon (The Days of Wine board for the female lead and Peck and Roses), Peter O’Toole (Lawrence signed to appear as her husband of Arabia), Marcelo Mastroianni in The Omen. He took a modest fee (Divorce-Italian Style) were all in exchange for 20% of the gross nominated, but Gregory Peck profits of what turned out to be one walked away with the Oscar®. of the biggest grossing films of the decade. Hollywood respects nothing A decade that opened with such as much as blockbuster and Gregory success and fame became more Peck found himself back where problematic as the turbulent Capt. Horatio Hornblower (1950) he started. He was once again a sixties wore on. Gregory Peck like bankable star and he would ride this the other leading men of his age phase of his career into the sunset. (Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Marlon Brando) (1972) and The Dove (1974), neither Research for this article drawn from suddenly seemed out of step with made money and the account of GREGORY PECK: A BIOGRAPHY by Gary Fisgall (Scribner 2002). Vol. 14, No. 1 February , 008 – – VOICE of the THEATRE Robert Mulligan’s TO KILL A Mockingbird Black and White – 1962 – 129 minutes A Brentwood, Pakula-Mulligan Production Print Courtesy of Universal Pictures Cast Gregory Peck ................................... Atticus Finch Directed by ....................................... Robert Mulligan Mary Badham ................................. Scout Phillip Alford .................................... Jem Produced by ..................................... Alan J. Pakula John Megna ..................................... Charles Baker ‘Dill’ Harris Frank Overton .................................. Sheriff Heck Tate Written By ........................................ Harper Lee (novel) Rosemary Murphy .......................... Maudie Atkinson Horton Foote (screenplay) Ruth White ....................................... Mrs. Dubose Director Of Photography .............. Russell Harlan Brock Peters ..................................... Tom Robinson Estelle Evans .................................... Calpurnia Original Music by ........................... Elmer Bernstein Paul Fix .............................................. Judge Taylor Editor ................................................. Aaron Stell Collin Wilcox ..................................