Want to know the best Gregory Peck movies? How about the worst Gregory Peck movies? Curious about Gregory Peck’s box office grosses or which Gregory Peck movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Gregory Peck movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
A couple of years ago, I decided to watch all the movies that had won Academy Awards® for the major categories. As I worked my way through the Oscar® winners from the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, I started to notice that many of these movies starred Gregory Peck. Movies like Roman Holiday (Audrey Hepburn Best Actress), Twelve O’Clock High (Dean Jagger Best Supporting Actor), The Big Country (Burl Ives Best Supporting Actor), A Gentleman’s Agreement (Best Picture of the Year and Elia Kazan Best Director), and of course To Kill A Mockingbird (Gregory Peck Best Actor). He also was the star in the following Academy Award® Best Picture nominated movies: 1945 Spellbound, 1946 The Yearling, 1949 Twelve O’Clock High, 1953 Roman Holiday, 1961 The Guns of Navarone , and two movies in 1962 How the West Was Won and To Kill A Mockingbird. After seeing all of this great movies I came to the conclusion that Gregory Peck is one of the most under appreciated actors.
His IMDb page shows 58 acting credits from 1944-1998. This page will rank 53 Gregory Peck movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.
Gregory Peck Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Gregory Peck Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Gregory Peck movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Gregory Peck movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Gregory Peck movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Gregory Peck movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Gregory Peck movie received.
- Sort Gregory Peck movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort buttons to make this a very interactive table. Blue link of title includes a trailer for that movie.
Flora Breen Robison’s Possibly Interesting Facts About Gregory Peck.
1. Gregory Peck was born Eldred Gregory Peck. His mother named him Gregory after his father and picked Eldred out of a phone book. He only used the name at school. Everyone called him Greg.
2. Gregory Peck was nominated 5 times for an Oscar® and 5 times for a Golden Globe® for his movie roles. For his role as Atticus Finch in 1963’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Peck won his only Oscar® and only Golden Globe®.
3. While attending the University of California-Berkeley, Peck broke discs in his back while stretching in dance class…though the press would later called it a rowing accident to sound more manly. That kept him out of WWII.
4. Gregory Peck was the first Hollywood actor to have a non-exclusive contract with a studio. Because he was 4-F from the war and several actors were off fighting, Peck was in a position to drive hard bargains. He made movies with every major and minor studio during the studio system.
5. Gregory Peck broke his ankle during the filming of 1948’s Yellow Sky when his horse bolted and fell on him. In his haste to return to filming as quickly as possible, the break never healed properly he limped forever afterwards. When watching the film(which was not filmed in sequence)-you can see scenes where Peck limps and doesn’t limp with no logic to the story.
6. When Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall were filming 1957’s Designing Woman, Bacall’s husband Humphrey Bogart passed away. It was Gregory Peck who escorted Bacall to her husband’s funeral.
7. Gregory Peck was married two times in his life. His first marriage was to Greta Kukkonen from 1942-1955. The marriage produced three sons. His second marriage was to Veronique Passani from 1955 until Peck’s death. That marriage produced a son and a daughter. Peck’s daughter Cecilia, played his daughter in the TV movie The Portrait. In the film Cecilia plays an artist determined to paint her parents’ portrait before they die. Peck was reunited with Lauren Bacall as his co-star 36 years after making Designing Woman in 1957.
8. Gregory Peck served many terms on many Board of Directors of several Hollywood associations. These include: He was the first president of the American Film Institute. He was president of the Academy of Motion Pictures from 1967-1970. When Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1967 Peck had the Oscars® postponed.
9. When longtime friend Ava Gardner passed away in 1990. Gregory Peck took in Ava Gardner’s housekeeper and cat.
10. Check out Gregory Peck’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Hey Bruce and Steve Lensman;
I know Bruce is on letterboxd although I do not think Steve is?
I have written a review for 12 O’ Clock High now- I did it from memory.
That completes 3 of the 5 of your father’s favourite movies being logged on my letterboxd profile.
I have done:
Bridge on the River Kwai
Twelve O’Clock High
Laurence of Arabia
And the others I’ve done.
AS anyone who looks at my letterboxd page can see – No middle name used –
My top 4 films are:
The Guns of Navarone
Roman Holiday
Charade
The Seventh Seal
Very cool…..I like Letterboxd.com too….it is a great way to list movies you have watched and what you thought about the movie….I now have over 2000 reviews there. I will check your latest reviews the next time I go over there.
Here is hoping that people check out Steve Lensman’s video tribute to Mr. Peck as Top 10.
It is a fabulous video of great poster art of Mr. Peck’s movies.
I agree it is one of his better videos.
BRUCE
1 I was very sorry to read in her Van Johnson posts that Flora will not be a regular contributor to your site in future as I feel that she brought a lot of knowledge to the table..
2 As I’ve said in recent posts I have a true Gregory Peck story that I have been keen to share with her and I was saving it for what I had hoped would be her full-time return to participation in the site.
3 However as she and I both think the world of Greg I will go ahead and post the story as a permanent mark on Cogerson of the affection that I’ve come to feel for Flora in the short time that she and I have been ‘pen pals’. So here it is.
4 My recent holiday in Italy brought back memories of other holidays and I remembered that in Greece a few years ago my wife and I went on a bus tour that stopped at some cliffs which our guide told us were the ones where The Guns of Navarone [1961] were filmed; and then he pointed to a particular cliff and said “And that’s where Gregory Peck killed Anthony Quinn.”
5 Of course Greg didn’t kill Quinn in the film and although they were estranged for most of the movie it ended with Greg in fact fishing Tony out of the water and them both parting as friends. So obviously you can’t believe everything the tourist guides tell you !!
6 Guns of Navarone was one of my very favourite Peck films and another of my Greg top 10 was the World in His Arms[1952] in which Greg was known as “The Boston Man” and Quinn was nicknamed” Portugee”. However from now on whenever I watch ANY Gregory Peck movie it will be a bitter-sweet experience for me as Flora will come into my mind.
Best wishes
BOB
BOB
I HAVE BEEN TO GREECE TOO, Robert Roy.
I cannot keep up with Bruce’s pace.
I have walked down the cobblestones where they were and seen Turkey as well.
I have been to a lot of the places in The Guns of Navarone, perhaps the reason why it is mt favourite of Greg’s films.
Hey Bob.
1. Worth the wait…..to hear the Peck story. That had to be fun to be where they filmed the Guns of Navarone.
2. Well….Quinn wanted to kill Peck most of the movie….so I am willing to give the tour guide the benefit of the doubt.
3. I have not seen World In His Arms yet….but that was made during his peak years so I would assume it has to be a good movie.
Thanks for sharing these Peck thoughts. 🙂
Don’t think of it as bittersweet, Bob.
Think of it as happy as you have shared poetry writing with a woman who loves Gregory Peck. There are plenty of my comments on this site to read – for the first time or the 20th time.
HI FLORA !
1 Great to be receiving posts from you again.
2 I hope that you will be quickly back to fully robust health again so take it easy and don’t attempt to keep up with Bruce as few of us can do that. Indeed when I think of his output I am reminded that when Tony Curtis was asked what it was like working with Burt Lancaster in Trapeze (1956) when Burt was at the height of his powers Tony answered “It was like being near a furnace!” I’ll keep a look out for the further posts that you are able to comfortably fit in. because as you know I always enjoy reading your stuff.
3 It’s great to hear from someone else who has holidayed in Greece and I recall that when the Guns of Navarone was being filmed there a journalist reminded us that the country was the home of the fabled Greek Gods and the journalist went on to quip they now had another great God among them and his name was Gregory Peck !!
Your friend
BOBBY
Hey Bob….it is not that hot…..lol.
🙂
ELDRED GREGORY PECK [1916-2003] A: FAN’S TRIBUTE
1 Greg, Richard Widmark , Deanna Durbin and Jimmy Stewart are my favourite movie stars and I tend tor rotate my fine-tuned ranking of them depending usually on whose film I saw last ! Flora Breen Robison has penned an excellent tribute to Greg on this page under the heading Possibly Interesting Facts. Indeed it is crammed with facts and I will as far as possible.try to avoid any duplication of her input.
2 William Wyler who made The Big Country with. Greg criticised his contribution to the production of that film. However as producer Greg must have done something right because IKE claimed that it was the greatest film that he had ever seen and would often show it at the White House during his second Presidential term. It, to Kill a Mockingbird, The Guns of Navarone and The World in His Arms would probably vie for position as my own favourite Peck movie.
3 Also Wyler overlooked the fact that The Big Country was Greg’s first outing as a producer and he gained experience from that project which enabled him to produce/executive produce later films that were highly praised by critics such as Pork Chop Hill, To Kill a Mockingbird , and Cape Fear. Greg also produce an the almost 3 hours documentary for the 57th annual Oscars in 1985.
4 However even if Wyler had been right about Greg’s shortcomings as a producer it would not matter for his legend lies primarily in his role as a superstar. AFI lists him as the 12th Greatest Screen LEGEND of All Time and in an another Institute poll ATTICUS FINCH is listed as the Greatest Screen HERO of the Past 100 Years, above even the superheroes and the Star Wars heroes..Also of course Greg won the Oscar as Atticus as Flora’s appreciation mentions.
5 Even among his own acting peers Greg was always to be found in good company. In the early 60s Greg, Cary Grant, Rock Hudson and Marlon Brando were all filming at Universal Studios at the same time and there is an iconic photo at large in the media of the 4 superstars relaxing and having a cosy chat.
6 As well as portraying model citizens and caring persons such as Atticus Finch Greg played a wide variety of other roles that often cast him as highly flawed and even downright bad people.
7 Examples are the ‘laughing outlaw’ in Duel in the Sun. Jimmy Ringo in The Gunfighter. The adulterous King David in David and Bathsheba, which also showed that he could do costume. The revenge-obsessed vigilante in The Bravados in which he discovers too late that he has been murdering the wrong people. The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit in which he has a secret child outside his marriage to Jennifer Jones (though he was a more circumstance partner to her in this film than he was in Duel in the Sun !). And the evil Nazi Mengele in The Boys from Brazil. [His pal Chuck Heston actually played the same character in a 2003 film.]
8 Greg could even do ‘sexy’ as the saying goes. Duel in the Sun was regarded as so erotic in its day that it was dubbed Lust in the Dust and certainly there was never a more erotic leading lady in movies than Jennifer Jones in that film . However when one watches some of today’s lewd’love’ scenes Greg’s romantic scenes with Pearl in that film were highly tasteful by comparison.
9 Greg even performed well in comedy situations as demonstrated in Designing Woman with Mrs Bogie, Captain Newman MD with Tony Curtis, and even the hilarious porch scene with Jean Simmons in The Big Country. I thought that Jean and Greg had excellent screen chemistry
10 He strayed too into Errol Flynn territory as the seafaring Boston Man in The World in His Arms where a fine partnership with Tony Quinn was the harbinger of their later pairing in The Guns of Navarone. Look too at Peck’s biographical General Douglas MacArthur and his portrayal of F Scott Fitzgerald in Beloved Infidel [a role originally meant for Monty Clift].
11 All the great stars have one thing in common in that they are ‘Originals’ and they are the’special people’ at whom Sir Anthony Hopkins marvelled.. The Duke once said of James Stewart “On screen Jimmy has his imitators but there is no Jimmy Stewart twin in films.” Within that context we can apply to Gregory Peck the old saying “We shall never see his like again.”
Hey Bob.
1. Great comment….I am sure Flora will really enjoy this one.
2. Flora’s byline was over 5 years ago….back in our HubPage days…..and even though these movie pages have had different homes…her byline has made the move each time.
3. Seems Wyler was being somewhat picky….especially since The Big Country was his first producing gig.
4. His AFI ranking is well deserved. His Atticus Finch is truly one of the great movie characters.
5. I think I have seen the picture you are talking about.
6. I agree he made a good bad guy too…..when I think of him as a bad guy….I always think of him and Sir Larry Olivier rolling around on the floor at the end of The Boys of Brazil
7. I agree with your comments in 8 through 10…..though I have not seen Designing Woman or Beloved Infidel…..not sure I would put Captain Newman MD in the comedy grouping….granted it has been awhile since I saw that one….but I remember it as being more than a little depressing…thought Eddie Albert’s patient has a good spot in my memory…lol.
8. I agree they are all originals…..so your Top 3 have now been written and updated… there are still some James Stewart movies I am looking to include….though I have all the Peck and Durbin movies finished…..though the Harrison Report project I am working on might cause some changes to the Durbin pages.
Thanks for the great comment on the great Peck!
BRUCE
1 Thanks for the compliments
2 I haven’t seen Captain Newman for some time but my memory of it was that if you think in terms of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Greg was Dean Martin and Curtis was Jerry Lewis. However it still takes good comic timing to play the straight man to someone who’s is being funny and that’s why I gave Greg credit for his contribution to the comedy aspects.
3 However as the old memory is not what it used to be as a courtesy to you and Flora I have just done an IMDB check and it appears that my memory of the Curtis/Peck relationship was correct but that you and I were BOTH right. IMDB lists it as a comedy/drama/war film and says that it goes from hilarity to sadness back to hilarity again.
4 My database is starting to twitch at the suggestion that more is coming about DD. You will of course flag it up so that I don’t miss it if you do produce a further update ?
Many thanks
BOB
Hey Bob
1. You know I forgot all about Tony Curtis in Captain Newman MD…..yes the Curtis part is in the same vein as his role in Operation Petticoat……just the parts I really remember are the Robert Duvall and Eddie Albert patient treatment parts…and then when one of them commits suicide…it pretty much sucked the humor right out of the movie.
2. I will for sure let you know when and if we change anything on the Durbin page.
Cogerson 🙂
Always read your longer posts a couple of time to make sure I’ve missed nothing and I see that you are also doing some new stuff on Jimmie. You’ll flag that up too ?
Hey Bob….of course. I am always digging for more information. Right now working on the Harrison Report project, doing a data exchange with Laurent from France….and WoC informed me that another Las Vegas meeting trip might be coming in the near future….which means….drumroll…..a visit to the USC library in Los Angeles were I can make an appointment to see the actual Warner Brothers ledgers.
Great News !
🙂 Dean Martin got updated. 30 $100 Million Dollar Movies.
You have got to see Designing Woman, Bruce.
This was the movie that Bacall was making when Bogart was dying. He needed her to be working so that when she came home she would have something to talk about other than him dying of cancer.
After Bogart died, it was Greg who accompanied her to the funeral of Bogart.
Regarding Beloved Infedel:
It is not that great a movie, but the fact that it is about real people – in particular Greg plays the real life writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and talks about how he kept writing in Hollywood so that he could pay for his wife Zelda’s hospital bills.
Captain Newman MD is one of those films that is multifacited in its genre. It is comedy, drama, war film -everything. Bobby Darin got an Oscar nom.
Hi, Robert Roy.
Fabulous essay on my Darling Greg!
Thankyou.
I am sorry it took me so long to respond, but I have been offline again attending to business/appointments.
I LOVE THIS TRIBUTE!
Yes, he could do sexy and I am familiar with the nickname of Lust in the Dust for Duel in the Sun.
I did not know that there was an actual movie called Lust in the Dust until LawrenceA told me that there was a movie poster at a video rental place where he used to work.
And no- we shall never see the likes of him again, nor his co-stars of his era such as the men you mention, unless they happen to be the member of an acting dynasty like Henry Fonda’s family or The Barrymores or the Houstons – in other words, people of today who have to start off in the business without a name will never have the benefit of the studio system or an understand of what it was like to have publicity in the days prior to social media.
GOOD EVENING FLORA [Nearly 11 PM here – I was wondering where you were as there are usually one or two posts from you before this!]
1 Your own Possibly Interesting Facts did all the hard research work on Greg
2 You don’t get any of it now in Belfast but in the 50s the young girls used to swoon out loud all over the cinema when handsome actors appeared on the screen and Greg was one of those who drew the loudest screams that nearly lifted the roof off !
3 You mentioned dynasties. Marlon Brando had a sister named Jocelyn Brando [now dead too] who was the image of him and in fact could have been mistaken for Brando in drag. She was in ‘your’ Glenn’s The Big Heat and played his wife who was blown up in her car by gangsters.
4. Jocelyn was blacklisted by the un-American Activities Committee and couldn’t get work for a while though her brother did ultimately put her in his film The Chase in 1966. Also as I think Bruce has already said elsewhere Brando’s mother taught acting and one of her pupils was Henry Fonda. So in a very loose sense you could say there was a Brando dynasty that was connected with acting though it was not of course nearly as successful overall as the Fondas.
5 Shrewd observation of yours about the studio system. Before he died Robert Taylor
expressed regret at the fading of that system He said that the studio [MGM in his case] looked after him and that made him more secure.
6 I don’t know whether you take alcohol or not but if you do you might consider having a few strong drinks ready next week to fend off the blues over Bruce being away. Anyway have a good evening.
BOBBY
I’ll be fine, Bobby.
I’ve got a lot of movies to watch…..
FLORA
1 My brother Lives in Australia and he has a large movie collection.
2 One shelf though takes pride of place as on it there are about 20 of his very favourite movies
3. Every year for about the past 15 years he has taken each of these down once to watch.
4 Examples of the titles on that shelf are The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; Shane; On the Waterfront; and Henry’s 12 Angry Men my brother’s top favourite.
5 When my wife and I stayed with him in 2007 he took down Liberty Valance for him and me to watch – and then he ordered my wife and his own out of the room because they were talking too much !
6 Anyway like you he always has plenty of movies to watch. Hope your business affairs went well. Was wondering where u were!
Just another comment about My Darling Greg – not sure how many people watch a Gregory Peck film on the anniversary of his death, but online we were talking about him a lot. 🙂
Glad they were talking about him…..he was one of the greatest actors ever….he deserves all the high praise he gets. Thanks for the update.
FLORA
1 There’s a Jack Palance film called The Big Knife and in an interview Jack said it was the greatest part that he had ever played up until then because ” It lasts 2 hours long, I’m on screen for 1 hr and 59 min so I’m only off screen in the washroom for 1 min and in that minute they’re all still talking about me !”
2 So maybe many more people than you think were talking about Greg on his anniversary.