Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 12 June 2003
- During his life, Gregory Peck remained a practicing Roman Catholic, and when he died on this day he was buried in a Catholic ceremony at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels mausoleum in Los Angeles.
On this day, the famous actor Gregory Peck died at the age of 87.
Peck was of Irish, Scottish, and English descent, and was raised as a Roman Catholic. Indeed, Gregory Peck remained a practicing Catholic throughout his life, and when he died on this day he was buried in a Catholic ceremony at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels mausoleum in Los Angeles. This Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles is the main church of the large Archdiocese, which numbers about 4,600,000 Catholics.
Gregory Peck has achieved 60 film roles, the most famous being the one of Atticus Finch in the film To Kill a Mockingbird. For this role of a lawyer who defends an unjustly convicted African-American in court, he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor. One should also mention Peck’s roles in films Roman Holiday and The Scarlet and the Black.
For his humanitarian work, he was honored with several awards, including the “Presidential Medal of Freedom”, which is the highest civilian honor in the United States. Apparently, the US President Lyndon B. Johnson planned to appoint Peck ambassador to Ireland at one time, and he was also recommended for the position of Governor of California.
It is interesting that at Peck’s funeral, his eulogy was read by his fellow actor Brock Peters, who played precisely the African-American who was defended by Peck’s Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.
