Per
IMDB:
•Stating 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.
•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.
•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."
•He was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, while remaining supportive of his son who was serving there.
•In 1947, at the beginning of the anti-communist investigations in Hollywood, Peck signed a letter deploring the witch hunts despite being warned his signature could hurt his career.
•In 1987 he joined Burt Lancaster, Martin Sheen and Lloyd Bridges in narrating a TV advertisement for the People for the American Way, in opposing the confirmation of President Ronald Reagan's nominee to the Supreme Court, conservative judge Robert Bork. Bork, under intense criticism in part because of his past strong opposition to civil rights laws, ultimately withdrew his name from contention.
•He was a close friend of Jane Fonda, and frequently attended political rallies with her.
•He was an active supporter of AIDS fund raising.
•During the Vietnam War Peck was a vocal supporter of teenagers who dodged the draft, calling them "patriots" and "heroes" and saying that burning their draft cards was part of their civic duty. He produced an anti-war film, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972) using his own money in order to provoke more opposition to the conflict.
•Appeared on President Richard Nixon's infamous "List of Enemies" in 1972.
•As a board member of Handgun Control Inc. (along with Martin Sheen and Susan Sarandon), Peck was sometimes criticized for his friendship with Charlton Heston, a longtime advocate of gun ownership who served as President of the National Rifle Assocation (NRA) from 1998 to 2003. When questioned by James Brady, Peck said, "We're colleagues rather than friends. We're civil to each other when we meet. I, of course, disagree vehemently with him on gun control.".
•In 1996, veteran character actor Richard Jaeckel, who had co-starred with Peck in the 1950 film "The Gunfighter" was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. Sadly, Jaeckel's wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimers' disease and he had lost his Brentwood, California home, as well as facing over a million dollars in medical bills and debt. Jaeckel had basically became homeless and his family tried unsuccessfully to enter him into the Woodland Hills' Motion Picture and Television Hospital. Peck took it upon himself to lobby Jaeckel's admittance into the hospital and he was treated within three days. Jaeckel stayed in the hospital until June of 1997, when he lost his battle with the deadly skin cancer.
•He was a lifelong opponent of nuclear weapons, and made On the Beach (1959) for this reason.
•In 1999 he publicly berated Congress for failing to pass legislation preventing teenagers from buying guns, following the Columbine high school massacre.
Quotes:On his 1962 Oscar-winning role in "To Kill A Mockingbird" (1955) — "I put everything I had into it — all my feelings and everything I'd learned in 46 years of living, about family life and fathers and children. And my feelings about racial justice and inequality and opportunity."
"I am a Roman Catholic. Not a fanatic, but I practice enough to keep the franchise. I don't always agree with the Pope... there are issues that concern me, like abortion, contraception, the ordination of women... and others. I think the Church should open up."
(1987) "Robert Bork wants to be a Supreme Court justice. But the record shows he has a strange idea of what justice is. He defended poll taxes and literacy tests, which kept many Americans from voting. He opposed the civil rights law that ended 'whites only' signs at lunch counters. He doesn't believe the Constitution protects your privacy. Please urge your senators to vote against the Bork nomination. Because, if Robert Bork wins a seat on the Supreme Court, it will be for life. His life... and yours."
(1987) "I would give up everything I do and everything I have if I could make a significant difference in getting the nuclear arms race reversed. It is the number one priority in my life. My work was the main thing in my life for a long time; now I'm beginning to think a little more about what the future will hold and what kind of world my kids will live in."
"I just do things I really enjoy. I enjoy acting. When I'm driving to the studio, I sing in the car. I love my work and my wife and my kids and my friends. And I think, 'You're a lucky man, Gregory Peck, a damn lucky man.' "
:patriot:
Oh — "Twelve O'Clock High" and "Gentlemen's Agreement." :hi:
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
