Gregory Peck: A Charmed Life (Paperback)

~ (Author) "'Who the hell is Gregory Peck?' Leland Hayward barked into the telephone..." (more)
Key Phrases: Gregory Peck, New York, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Before Peck died in 2003, Haney (Naked at the Feast: A Biography of Josephine Baker) had full access to the actor, who earned his iconic status as a national father figure after portraying the noble and taciturn Atticus Finch in 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird. The ease with which Peck inhabited that role was rare for the actor: his dogged, wooden Method approach sometimes made him the bane of critics and of fellow actors and directors trying to elicit spontaneity from him. Disciplined preparation, however, was Peck's way of compensating for the emotional toll of a peripatetic childhood and absent parents. Method preparation also, Haney says, helped correct for features that seemed "large, irregular and gaunt" up-close. Haney plumbs Peck's own neglectful fathering (Peck blamed himself for his son Jonathan's suicide) and philandering with such co-stars as Ingrid Bergman, who mentored him during the filming of Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945). Peck often projected a stentorian calm on-screen, but in private he apparently required his first wife, Greta, to cater to his "monomania"; he was also a heavy drinker. Haney writes vaguely about Peck's "being repressed," but doesn't satisfactorily investigate how an emotionally stunted actor became a cultural treasure. Haney's insider perspective on Peck—whom she refers to as "Greg" throughout—is marred by a scattershot narrative and flat, workmanlike prose. B&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Gregory Peck enjoyed a long and successful career amongst the notoriously fickle shores of Hollywood. Handsome, earnest and inscrutable, he epitomised decency and integrity off and onscreen, an identity encapsulated in his signature role, that of beleagured lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. But people are rarely simple mirror images of their screen selves and Peck- though an admirable character- was apparently a more complicated man than some of his roles would immediately suggest. Lynn Haney's warm, affectionate biography presents an engaging portrait of a thoroughly likeable individual, a man born Eldred Peck who fortunately chose the more propitious name of Gregory to launch his film career in the 1940's. In style colloquial rather than compelling, Haney's chatty prose encompasses every aspect of Peck's life, one in which, though he experienced a fair share of personal heartbreak his propensity for good fortune remained consistent. Described by Lauren Bacall as 'the most gorgeous creature I'd ever seen,' Peck's first marriage eventually faltered but his second, to fledgling French journalist Veronique, proved one of Hollywood's rare relationship successes, ending only with his death in June 2003.(Kirkus UK)

The movie actor's career-and careerism-get generous scrutiny from a veteran pop biographer. In Haney's profile, Peck (1916-2003) is a fascinatingly ambiguous character. He had the looks and voice to make Hollywood fall to its knees, the author writes, but he also had a fragile ego and fell short in the talent department. Yet he was dedicated to his work and knew how to make and keep useful friends. After the married Peck's fling with Ingrid Bergman on the set of Spellbound, notes Haney (Naked at the Feast, not reviewed, etc.), "the important thing for him was to preserve their friendship. On his way up, he needed to forge lasting bonds with his more successful colleagues. . . . From a career standpoint, it was a smart strategy. Domestically, it probably didn't play so well." When it came to HUAC's interrogation of left-leaning Hollywood, the author concludes, Peck "never took a front position at the barricades; his was not one of the braver stance . . . committed political activism would have taken too much time away from his career." Keeping that career afloat occupied so much of his attention that his first marriage crumbled, though the actor appears to have learned a lesson. In later life he displayed more of the gumption that fired his Oscar-winning performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, pulling close to his second family, speaking out on abortion, gun control, and gay rights, and throwing a dart at Robert Bork's nomination for the Supreme Court. Haney covers all Peck's films, from storylines to activities on the set, probing as deeply into his acting qualities as she does into his politics and ambition. His work got better through the years, she writes, but concludes that he will not be remembered as a brilliant actor so much as a fine and human one. A perspective-setting biography: gracious, but pulling no punches. (16 pp. b&w photos) (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (November 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786716568
• ISBN-13: 978-0786716562
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #479,526 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Miss Haney's unauthorized book is a loser, January 15, 2005

By	Roxie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gregory Peck: A Charmed Life (Hardcover)

I knew Gregory Peck very well for many years. I also knew his first wife Greta, their sons, Jonathan, Steven and Carey Paul. I was also close to Veronique, his second wife and their family.
Like many of the Peck family friends, I was devestated by Lynn Haney's deliberate misrepresentation of Gregory Peck's personal life.
This unauthorized biography is not worth the paper it's printed on. Hopefully, an authentic biographer will profile with accuracy and respect the life of a great man.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This writer used my research without giving me full credit, March 3, 2005

By	John A. O'dowd "John O'Dowd" (Pine Brook, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Gregory Peck: A Charmed Life (Hardcover)

As actress Barbara Payton's biographer, I was dismayed to see some of my material on Barbara's life used, without permission or acknowledgment, in Lynn Haney's book. True, she does credit me with the story of Barbara being found unconscious under a dumpster in Hollywood, but some of her other statements about Miss Payton have been lifted directly from my Internet article on Barbara's life and times.

Ms. Haney, I am very easy to get in touch with (my contact information, in fact, appears with the aforementioned article). May I ask WHY you didn't seek me out to ask for permission to use my work in your book on Mr. Peck's life? Believe me, I would have happily granted you permission (with appropriate credit given to me, of course)if you had only taken the time, and care, to ask.

Not good, Ms. Haney. Not good at all!

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars John O'Dowd isn't the only one, July 3, 2005

By	Steven Rubio (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Gregory Peck: A Charmed Life (Hardcover)

I always like seeing my name in print, but after reading Mr. O'Dowd's comments, I figure I should chime in. My experience is very much like Mr. O'Dowd's ... I am quoted (a bit incorrectly, but close enough) in Haney's book, and am named as the speaker who asks Peck a question about acting in bad movies, but I was never contacted about the anecdote, which comes in fact from my personal blog. It's also worth noting that Haney gets the context of the anecdote wrong ... she calls me a "journalist" speaking to Peck "around" the time Boys from Brazil came out (1978), when the conversation I had with Peck came more than ten years later, when I was just a graduate student sitting in an auditorium while Peck took some questions from the audience.

And, again like Mr. O'Dowd, I am very easy to reach, via the very website where Haney found the anecdote in the first place.

If my experience, and that of Mr. O'Dowd, is any indication, I don't suppose I'll be buying Haney's book.