Gregory Peck was, undeniably, one of the greatest stars in Hollywood during the Golden Age (1940s-1960s). He had both leading man charisma and serious dramatic chops.
Peck was born in 1916 in California — Gregory was actually his middle name, preceded by Eldred. He came across acting while a student at the University of California Berkley and then moved to New York, appearing on Broadway and studying with the famous acting teacher Sanford Meisner. In just a few short years, Peck was back home on the West Coast and a Hollywood star; he got an Oscar nomination for only his second film, 1944’s “The Keys of the Kingdom,” about a Catholic missionary in China.
Peck had a brief tenure as Alfred Hitchcock’s leading man (in 1945’s “Spellbound” and 1947’s “The Paradine Case”) and enjoyed consistent work over the next decades. However, his most remembered role wouldn’t come until 1962: Atticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird,” adapted from Harper Lee’s novel. Atticus, the father of protagonist Scout, is a lawyer in Great Depression-era Alabama who defends Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a Black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. Peck continued acting even as he aged and Hollywood changed; he starred in Richard Donner’s 1976 horror film “The Omen,” bringing class to the film’s sensationalism.
For the sake of this piece though, Peck’s most Batman-esque part is in the original “Cape Fear.” He plays Sam Bowden, a lawyer who helped put away the rapist Max Cady (Robert Mitchum). Eight years later, Cady is free and out for revenge. The film climaxes with Bowden holding Cady at gunpoint, urging him to finish him off. Bowden declines with a lengthy and vindictive speech, saying such quick revenge would be too easy compared to Cady rotting in jail.
He took the words right out of Batman’s mouth.