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Libraries and Research Centers
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Los Angeles – Margaret Herrick Library
American Film Institute – Louis B. Mayer Library
Brooksville Public Library
Clinton Public Library
Distric
t of Columbia Public Library
Jersey City Public Library
La Jolla Historical Society
Library of Congress – Motion Picture Collection
Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts – Billy Rose Theatre Collection
Los Angeles Public Library
Lyndon B. Johnson Library
Madison Public Library
Pasadina Public Library
Philadelphia Free Library Theatre Collection
University of California, Berkeley – Bancroft Library
Rochester Public Library
San Diego Historical Society
San Diego Public Library
University of California, Los Angeles Theatre Arts Collection
University of Southern California – Doheny Library
Wesleyan University Cinema Library
Yale University – Sterling Library
Websites
www.canoe.ca
www.bigpond.com
www.megwood.com
www.Nevilshute.org
www.thecolumnists.com/kinneylittlefield
www.waka.com
Acknowledgements
First, I’m grateful to Gregory Peck for being such a bloody marvelous biography subject. The very mention of his name around inbred show business folk caused doors to swing open that would otherwise have remained shut.
Next, a rousing cheer for the research staffs of theatre and film libraries from coast to coast. It reinforced my conviction that librarians are the smartest people on earth. Special thanks to the specialists at: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library, The American Film Institute, the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Southern California’s Dohney Library, The UCLA Theatre Arts Collection, the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts Billy Rose Theatre Collection at Lincoln Center and the film archives at the Museum of Modern Art.
In the approximately 200 interviews for the book, I had the opportunity to meet all kinds of people who knew Gregory Peck. Both the famous and obscure were kind enough to share their reminiscences with me. I am particularly indebted to June Dally Watkins of Australia who confided in me about her whirlwind romance with Greg during 1952 when he was just coming off the filming of Roman Holiday. Similarly, I’d like to say thanks to Tommy Henkkanen who helped me create a vivid portrait of Greg’s first wife Greta, a woman who has been given short shrift in previous accounts of Greg’s life. Also, I’m appreciative of the wry observations of Leslie Epstein, Greg’s neighbor in the Pacific Palisades who had a chance to observe the star out of the spotlight. For relating poignant moments in Greg’s later years, I want to say thank you to Lisa Krohn. I am also indebted to my close friends Donna and Art Wolff who contributed their canny insights about the Hollywood scene as well as supplying me with plenty of out-loud laughs.
There’s a special group of individuals I’d like to acknowledge. These were friends of Greg’s firstborn son Jonathan who took his own life in 1975. Among those who supplied me with information never before brought to light were: Nancy Stesin, John Bell, Carter Black, Paul Sack, Blair Bolles, Jamie Auchincloss, and Susan and Tom Casey.
At Robson Books, I had the good fortune to work with Jane Donovan. If Oscars were passed out to editors, she’d be first in line. Her sharp-eyed attention to the text and her posing of critical questions enable me to sort through the chaff and select the wheat. The manuscript also benefited greatly from the scrupulous copyreading of Alison Moss and Sarah Barlow. For first-rate picture research, I am indebted to Louise Daubeny and Aline Morely. And for creating an exquisite book jacket, my thanks go to Richard Mason. Last, but not least, a toast to publisher Jeremy Robson. Now, there’s a charmer.
The publisher wishes to thank the following for kindly providing the photographs that appear in this book:
Page 1 (main) courtesy of © John Springer Collection/CORBIS
Pages 1 (inset), 3 (bottom right), 5 and 13 (top) courtesy of © Bettmann/CORBIS/© CinemaPhoto/CORBIS
Page 2 (top) courtesy of Getty Images/Hulton Archive
Page 2 (bottom) courtesy of Rex Features/Crollalanza
Page 3 (top) courtesy of the Kobal Collection
Page 3 (bottom left) courtesy of © Tommy Hinkkanen
Page 4 (top and middle) courtesy of June Dally-Watkins
Page 4 (bottom) by kind permission of Jeff and Carol Lang
Page 6–7 (left) courtesy of Selznick/United Artists/The Kobal Collection
Page 7 (bottom right) courtesy of Selznick/RKO/The Kobal Collection
Page 8–9 courtesy of Warner Bros/The Kobal Collection
Page 10 courtesy of Rex Features/SNAP
Page 11 (top) courtesy of Rex Features/PHA
Page 11 (bottom) courtesy of United Artists/The Kobal Collection
Page 12 courtesy of Rex Features/LUC
Page 13 (bottom) courtesy of Associated Press
Page 14 (top and bottom) courtesy of Chrysalis Images
Page 15 courtesy of Rex Features/ADC
Page 16 courtesy of Paramount/The Kobal Collection
Front cover photograph courtesy of © CinemaPhoto/CORBIS
Index
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Academy Awards
Gentleman’s Agreement
The Guns of Navarone
High Noon
The Keys of the Kingdom
Moby Dick H
Roman Holiday
The Yearling
To Kill a Mockingbird
Twelve O’Clock High
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
activism Actors Company Actors’
Studio
Adler, Stella
Agar, John
Agee, James
Albert, Eddie
Albert of Monaco, Prince
Albuquerque, Lita
Alford, Philip
Allen, Frederick Lewis
Allen, Rupert
Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)
American Cancer Society
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Film Institute
Lifetime Achievement Award
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amory, Cleveland
Ampolsk, Lester
Anderson, Donna
Anderson, Judith
Anna Christie (play 1939)
Anthony-World anti-Semitism
Arabesque (1966)
Arnold, William
Arthur, Robert
Allen Arts Council
Arts and Humanities
Act Ashe, Catherine
Ashe, Thomas
Ashe, Thomas (cousin)
Astaire, Fred
Auchincloss, Jamie
Aumont, Jean Pierre
Australia
Automat
Avery, Sid
Axelrod, George
Ayres, Ben
Ayres, Bernice see Maysuch, Bernice
Ayres, John Dagget
Ayres, Kate
Bacall, Lauren
Cecilia’s wedding
death of Bogart
Designing Woman
HUAC
John Huston
on meeting Peck
The Portrait
back injury
Badham, Mary
Baker, Carroll
Baker, Russell
Baker, Stanley
Balanchine, George
Bankhead, Tallulah
Baresch, Isabelle
Barnard, Diana
Barrie, J M
Barrie, Wendy
Barrymore, Diana
Barrymore, Ethel
Barrymore, John
Barrymore, Lionel
Barter Theater, Abington, Virginia
Bartlett, Sy
Basehart, Richard
Baxter, Anne
Beach, Rex
Beard, Michael
Beard, Peter
Beatty, War
ren
Behold A Pale Horse (1964)
Beilenson, Laurence
Belafonte, Harry A
Bell for Adano (play 1944)
Bell, John
Bell, Judy
The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-Ling-a-Ling
Beloved Infidel (1959)
Bennett, Joan
Bennett, Seymour Benny, Jack Bergen, Polly
Bergman, Ingrid
Berkeley
Berlin
Berlin, Joey
Bernstein, Elmer
Bernstein, Henri
Bernstein, Walter
Berrigan, Daniel
Berrigan, Philip
Bickford, Charles
Bierce, Ambrose
The Big Country (1958)
The Billionaire (later Let’s Make Love)
Billy Two Hats (1973)
Binford, Lloyd T
Birch, Ruth
Bird, Dorothy
Bishop, Joey
Black, Carter
Blacklist
Blake, Robert
The Blue and the Gray (1982)
Boccalandro, Iginia
Bogart, Humphrey
alcohol
Ava Gardner
death of
fights
HUAC
Lauren Bacall
Method
privacy
smoking Bogart, Leslie
Bogart, Stephen Humphrey Bogeaus,
Benedict
Bohan, Mark
Bolles,
Blair
Boochester,
Buck
Bork, Robert
Bow, Clara
Bowden, Dorris
Bowers, William
The Boys From Brazil (1978) ,
Bradbury, Ray
Brady, James
Brand, Harry
Brand, Phoebe
Brando, Marlon
The Bravados (1958)
Brecht, Bertolt
Breen, Joseph
Brentwood
Brentwood Productions
Bridges, Lloyd
Broadway
leaving for Hollywood
Leland Hayward
The Morning Star
move to
moving to
The Willow and I
Bromley, Hunt
Brookes, Sir Norman
Brooks, Richard
Brown, Clarence
Brown, David
Brown, James Mason
Brown, Kay
Brown, Pat
Bruce, Nigel
Brutsman, Joseph
Bruzzi, Stella
Buchanan, Johnny
Buchwald, Ann
Buchwald, Art
Buckley, William F
Bud (pet dog)
Burns, George
Burns, Gracie
Busch, Niven
Button Button (play 1940)