Customer Reviews

Gregory Peck: A Charmed Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

Gregory Peck is one of my favorites. I actually looked forward to reading this book. However, it is a frustraing mess of typos, errors of fact, bait and switch writing and I'm almost willing to bet, "parts" lifted from other sources, tweaked and used to fill space and take up pages.

The writing "style", what there is of it, changes depending on the subject matter. At different times, when allowing us to follow the story, the author uses "Greg did this", and "then Greg found himself...", which is fine. But on a couple of stories, "Greg" became "Peck found himself" and "Peck did this" and it was like a different writer had penned this sequence. Then, when the "story line" was concluded, it went back to "Greg."

But the most troubling are the simple typos-- ALAN LADD became ALLAN LADD and the movie SAHARA became SHAHARA and a dozen others. References to quotes of people who loved "Greg" in a movie that wouldn't be made for another six years, based on the time line of the "sequence" we were in, was also stumbling.

By the end, I found myself skipping whole pages of dreck just to get back to the "Greg" I wanted to read about. Disappointing and not recommended. But that's just me.

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!

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.

This should have been a well-written book about a fascinating man. But it never quite captured the sense of Mr. Peck. Part of the problem may have been the distracting and numerous typos, grammatical errors and an annoying habit of veering off onto subjects that were only slightly related and which are already the stuff of Hollywood lore, written about MANY times before.

Mr. Peck is revealed to be a career-driven man during most of the early part of his career (and something of a heavy drinker), to the detriment of himself and of his family. His successful second marriage of several decades is attributable to his wife's indulging him excessively (a state much sought after by the male of our species, but seldom found). THAT in itself is the major secret, the linch-pin for his "charmed" life. He didn't become the Atticus Finch look-a-like until much later (better late than never). The reader comes away better informed about Mr. Peck, but not necessarily in awe of or awestruck by him, and certainly not excited by the story of his life. For those seeking tales of a more adventurous life, may I suggest you try "Burt Lancaster - an American Life" by Kate Buford.

Book received promptly and in excellent condition--cannot wait to read book about one of my favorite actors of all time, Mr. Peck.

I just can't seem to understand why Ms Haney chose Gregory Peck as her subject when she obviously does not even like him. I assume biographies of the stars are written for the their fans and though I appreciate truth but the lot that appears in Haney's book seems to be gossip. What was she thinking?? Looks like she collected snippets on Greg Peck's life from gutter journalists and printed it out in the book.

She seems to be a big fan of his first wife though, as the demise of their marriage is firmly laid at Mr Peck's door. His other sin seems to be falling in love with his second one and moving on with his life with her. Well here is a news flash for you dear author, in instances like a divorce, it takes two to tango. We never seem to understand from your book as to what was Greta Peck's failing as a wife that led to it.

Also half baked accounts of his son's sucide are quite jarring. Again the author seems to think that it was Gregory Peck's stature and achivements that led his son to his demise. What was he suppose to do? Become a hermit & run to jungles so that his son would not be plagued with inferioty complex?

Really star bigraphers like Ms Haney should stick to what they do best...write for useless glossies that the twits of the world love so very much and leave book writing to the more accompalished writers.

Very well written, well-documented information
Bit dry with a lot of chronological information
Dispels a few myths about his 'charmed' life in La Jolla
Shows him to be a very decent hardworking actor and person with principles
Would recommend, but would be best for a true fan of his

This was simply one of the best books I have ever read [and I have read a lot!] Not only does the author let you into Peck's life from the beginning until the end, but also adds a lot of "Hollywood scoops" that keeps you on your toes wondering what will surprise you next. There is none of the blatant " I did this, I did that" that I found while reading Ginger Rogers' autobiography. Gregory Peck was and is a Hollywood icon. To me he will always be "Atticus Finch:" a man who represents the good that is deep inside all of us. This book is a treasure!