(Kevin Crust’s article appeared in the LA Times, 4/2; via Pam Green.)
April 5 marks the centennial of Academy Award-winning actor Gregory Peck's birth. On-screen, he was known for portraying men of conviction such as Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Off-screen, Peck was a crusader as well. He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was an outspoken supporter of liberal and civil rights causes.
Below are some of our favorite Peck quotes from the pages of The Times.
On storytelling
"Telling a good story and having people laugh if it's funny or gasp if it's suspenseful or just express enjoyment when the story has been told. Even if the story has been told on film and shipped around in tin cans, it creates a bond between a performer and an audience. It is life's blood to a storyteller, an entertainer like me, to achieve a response from the audience.
"You occasionally tell a story that doesn't come off. You say to yourself, 'Why did I tell that story? It flopped. I must remember not to tell that one again.' … The entertainer goes away and licks his wounds. But since he deals in dreams and illusions, and is not the most realistic-minded fellow anyway, he soon begins to think of the next story he wants to tell." (1974)
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/classichollywood/la-ca-mn-classic-hollywood-20160403-story.html