--- ---  # Gregory Peck's Centennial: How an Actor Became an Icon of Moral Decency  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 5, 2016 11:00 AM UTC  December 1, 1947 cover of LIFE magazine with Gregory Peck. December 1, 1947 cover of LIFE magazine with Gregory Peck.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 5, 2016 11:00 AM UTC _Since the advent of Gary Cooper no screen hero has said ‘Shucks!’ with more conviction than Gregory Peck, who is sometimes called, because of his homespun look, ‘the Lincoln of Beverly Hills.’_ So went the editor’s note about Peck’s 1947 LIFE cover, cementing in the minds of readers—if there were any for whom it wasn’t already cemented—that he was the handsome, wholesome hero at the heart of the Hollywood dream. He was still 15 years away from the role that would win him an Oscar and solidify his legacy as an exemplar of moral decency (Atticus Finch in _To Kill a Mockingbird_)_,_ but he was already as respected as he was beloved. The actor, born Eldred Gregory Peck 100 years ago on April 5, 1916, began his career in the theater in the early 1940s, exempted from the draft thanks to a back injury. Though he was often penniless during those years and sometimes slept on the street, the launching of his film career brought swift success. After releasing his first movie, _Days of Glory_, in 1944, he went on to receive four Academy Award nominations in the next five years. His fifth would be the one he finally took home. Though the pages of LIFE are filled with glowing reviews of Peck’s performances, the legacy he left behind transcends the bounds of stage and screen. Peck, who died in 2003, is remembered as every bit the decent soul as his version of Atticus Finch was. As TIME’s late film critic Richard Corliss wrote in his [obituary](http://time.com/3833636/gregory-peck-the-american-as-noble-man/) for the actor: --- > “” ---  December 1, 1947 cover of LIFE magazine with Gregory Peck. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Gregory Peck in costume during Summer Stock in Cape Cod, 1946. Eileen Darby—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Peck talks on the telephone during Summer Stock in Cape Cod, 1946. Eileen Darby—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Peck reads a script on the beach in Cape Cod in 1946. Eileen Darby—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Peck smokies a pipe for a scene in the movie "The Yearling." 1947. Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peck with Ann Todd, his costar in Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Paradine Case," 1947. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Portrait of Gregory Peck in New York City, 1947. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peck and Ava Gardner watch Walter Huston as he gambles in a scene from film "The Great Sinner," 1949. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peck at the beach in his birthplace of La Jolla, California, 1949. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peck costumed as WWII American Air Force bomber pilot for the movie "Twelve O'Clock High," 1950. W. Eugene Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peck and Susan Hayward on the set of the 1951 film "David and Bathsheba." Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peck on set in Hollywood, California. 1955. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peck in a promotional shot for the film "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," 1956. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Gregory Peck Centennial: See Photos of the Beloved Actor ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4272364/gregory-peck-centennial-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4272364/gregory-peck-centennial-photos/"},"headline":"Gregory Peck's Centennial: How an Actor Became an Icon of Moral Decency","datePublished":"2016-04-05T11:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:12.421Z","description":"The actor was born on April 5, 1916","url":"https://time.com/4272364/gregory-peck-centennial-photos/","keywords":["Hollywood","photography","LIFE Magazine","Icons"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57a291593cb55af1/69888c97f887dc187fe95351/160325-gregory-peck.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57a291593cb55af1/69888c97f887dc187fe95351/160325-gregory-peck.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gregory Peck LIFE cover","caption":"December 1, 1947 cover of LIFE magazine with Gregory Peck.","creditText":"Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4272364/gregory-peck-centennial-photos/","name":"Gregory Peck's Centennial: How an Actor Became an Icon of Moral Decency"}}]}] ```