Posted on 06/17/2003 9:45:09 AM PDT by Jakarta ex-pat
More than 2,000 mourners said goodbye to legendary actor Gregory Peck in a public memorial service Monday in Los Angeles.
Peck, who was 87, died in his sleep Thursday. He was laid to rest during a private service in the crypt-mausoleum beneath the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Among the mourners at the service were Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, Harry Belafonte, Anjelica Huston, Tony Danza and Michael York; as well as Peck's family, including his wife, Veronique, his sons, Stephen, Anthony and Carey, and his daughter, Cecilia Peck-Voll.
Brock Peters, who played Tom Robinson, a black man wrongfully accused of rape in the Peck classic "To Kill a Mockingbird," delivered the eulogy.
"In art there is compassion, in compassion there is humanity, with humanity there is generosity and love. Gregory Peck gave us these attributes in full measure," Peters said.
Peters said Peck possessed the virtues of Atticus Finch, the lawyer who defended Robinson in the movie.
In addition to Peters, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who presided over the service, cited Peck's role as Atticus Finch when describing the actor's integrity.
Mahony also said that Peck "did not have to act at being an extraordinary human being."
Peck was honored by the American Film Institute earlier this month, when the character of Atticus Finch was named the greatest movie hero of all time. Peck earned a Best Actor Oscar for the 1962 classic.
It was one of five career Oscar nominations for the actor, who also appeared in such classics as "Roman Holiday," "Twelve O'Clock High," "Gentlemen's Agreement," "MacArthur" and "The Omen."
Clips of Peck's films were shown at the services, as well a videotape of an unwitting Peck delivering his own eulogy at a lecture several years ago -- where he wanted to be remembered as a good husband, father and grandfather. As a professional, Peck said he wanted to be thought of as a "good storyteller."
In real life there is Murder, Hatred, you name it.
My children better know the difference.
"He said he needed to do this part because that story needed to be told, racism and discrimination needed to be seen for what they were, and what they were was evil,"
I'm so sick of the evil white man "story" l'll state it here.
I'm sick of it!
This current generation is in dire need of integrity and goodness. I'm afraid for the future of the USA. I know every fading generation says the same thing, but this current generation is blinded by liberalism and taught by communists and liars.
good luck X'ers
However, literature without Dickens is no literature at all.
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