Gregory Peck Stamp Delivers 'Mockingbird' Memories

The U.S. Postal Service debuted its Gregory Peck stamp as part of the Legends of Hollywood series this week. The stamp premiers just as a new documentary called Hey Boo also comes out. The film is about how To Kill A Mockingbird, which starred Peck, has influenced generations of Americans. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates reports.

Copyright ? 2011 National Public Radio?. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:

Amid all the royal wedding hoopla this week, a ceremony for another kind of royalty - Hollywood royalty. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates reports on a special honor for one of Hollywood's most beloved actors.

KAREN GRIGSBY BATES: He was charming, a supposed tour guide in "Roman Holiday."

(Soundbite of movie, "Roman Holiday")

Mr. GREGORY PECK (Actor): (As Joe Bradley) The Mouth of Truth: legend has it that if you're given to lying and you put your hand in there, it'll be bitten off.

BATES: And a writer who pretended to be Jewish in order to unmask anti-Semitism in "Gentlemen's Agreement."

(Soundbite of movie, "Gentleman's Agreement")

Mr. PECK: (As Philip Schuyler Green) I'm just going to let everyone know that I'm Jewish, that's all.

Ms. DOROTHY MCGUIRE (Actor): (As Kathy Lacy) Jewish? But you're not, are you? Not that it would make any difference to me.

BATES: In fact, Gregory Peck was the moral compass of most of his movies. But he was at his most moral, his most admirable as Atticus Finch, the hero of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "To Kill A Mockingbird."

(Soundbite of music)

Peck often said his portrayal of a small-town lawyer in Depression-era Alabama was his very favorite role. In it, he defends a black man wrongly accused of rape.

(Soundbite of movie, "To Kill A Mockingbird")

Mr. PECK: (As Atticus Finch): And so, a quiet, humble, respectable Negro, who has had the unmitigated temerity to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white people.

BATES: So when the U.S. Postal Service released the latest stamp in its Legend of Hollywood series, depicting Peck in his role as Atticus, a lot of his admirers turned out for the unveiling. Morgan Freeman was there. So was Sharon Stone. And Sidney Poitier. And family friend Laura Dern spoke of Peck's willingness to spend his personal capital on unpopular causes.

Ms. LAURA DERN (Actress): Everybody adores Gregory Peck. And yet, he made films about post traumatic stress disorder and racial injustice and anti-Semitism when no one was talking about it. That's an incredible thing to do, and still remain this grace-filled icon.

BATES: Peck's widow, Veronique, believes her late husband would have been gratified by the recognition.

Ms. VERONIQUE PASSANI: It's been 50 years - next year will be the 50th anniversary - and this film is still being appreciated and admired, so I think he'd be very pleased.

BATES: His daughter Cecilia thinks it's especially appropriate that Peck be honored by the post office.

Ms. CECILIA PECK VOLL: He was a great letter writer and great communicator.

BATES: And, as many of his admirers noted, so much like Atticus Finch that sometimes it was hard to know where Atticus left off and Gregory Peck began. Cecilia Peck Voll is delighted so many people still care.

Ms. VOLL: It's very, very moving to all of us to feel how much he's still remembered.

BATES: And will continue to be - Peck is the first actor to be placed on a Forever stamp.

Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR news.

(Soundbite of music)

WERTHEIMER: This is NPR News.

Copyright ? 2011 National Public Radio?. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/30/135867073/gregory-peck-stamp-delivers-mockingbird-memories?ft=1&f=1032

katie couric princess diana death sarah michelle gellar ginger sweeney todd