Born in La Jolla, CA. While enrolled in the pre-med program at Berkeley, Peck took a trip to New York City, where he saw Vera Zorina in I Married an Angel, and changed his priorities: he withdrew from pre-med and joined a small theater group on campus. In 1939, Peck returned to New York City and, after winning a scholarship to the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of Dramatics, his acting career caught on. The plays themselves (Morning Star, The Willow and I, Sons and Soldiers) were less than successful, but Peck's excellent notices attracted the attention of Hollywood. The scarcity of leading men in Hollywood during the war years (Peck was exempt from service because of a spinal injury), the glowing reviews of his Broadway performances and savvy manipulation on the part of his agent, Leland Hayward, all contributed to Peck's being in great demand. In fact, the young actor soon found himself starting his Hollywood career under contract to four studios: RKO, 20th Century-Fox, Selznick Productions and MGM. His first film, DAYS OF GLORY (1944), an over-ripe tribute to Russian peasant resistance against the Nazis, featured Peck as a strong-boned resistance leader. But it was THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM, with Peck as a dedicated Roman Catholic missionary to China, that made him a star. This was the first of his incarnations as an authority figure of quiet dignity and uncompromising singlemindedness; the next four decades saw him play variations of that character in THE YEARLING (1946),THE MACOMBER AFFAIR (1947) GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT (1947), THE GUNFIGHTER (1950), THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (1956), THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962), THE OMEN (1976) and OLD GRINGO (1989). Interspersed among these films were others depicting a darker side of his persona, a man fatalistically obssessed (even possessed) by hidden demons that push him toward the brink of madness, as in SPELLBOUND (1945), DUEL IN THE SUN (1946), YELLOW SKY (1948), TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (1949), MOBY DICK (1956), MACARTHUR (1977) and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978). Peck's zenith as a film actor was TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, for which he won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, a small-town Southern lawyer whose quiet intensity and moral courage became a summary of Peck's screen persona. After that film, however, Peck found himself embroiled in such post-studio era potboilers as MACKENNA'S GOLD (1969), THE CHAIRMAN (1969), BILLY TWO HATS (1974) and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978). Even as his film career declined, his philanthropic efforts in support of arts organizations flowered, with Peck working tirelessly as a founder of the American Film Institute, three-term president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and member of the National Council of Arts -- making him seem less an actor than a politician. As such, it seemed fitting that the two Pecks finally melded in the 1982 television production of The Blue and the Grey, with Peck at last playing Abraham Lincoln. His first wife (1942 - 1955) was Greta Kukkonen. They had three children, including child actor Carey Paul Peck (b. 1949). Peck married Veronique Passani on New Year's Eve in 1955, and they remained married until his death on 12 June 2003. Their children Tony Peck (b. 1956) and Cecilia Peck (b. 1958) are both actors. Shortly before his death, the American Film Institute named Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD as the number one all-time cinematic hero.  Nominated for Actor 1945: THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM  Nominated for Actor 1946: THE YEARLING  Nominated for Actor 1947: GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT  Nominated for Actor 1949: TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH  Actor 1962: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD  Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award 1967. 5 nominations, 1 Award, 1 Honorary Award