Talk:Gregory Peck

Armenian?

There is a story from the IMDB that Peck had some distant Armenian ancestry (which even if true would still not qualify him for Armenian-Americans, the ethnicity-American categories include only people 1/4 or more of that ethnicity). A couple of websites reposted that exact same IMDB quote (including adherents.com). But there is nothing else on the net to support this and the IMDB is complete, utter, absolutely undisputed crap when it comes to bio details like that. I've read a book bio of Peck and it didn't mention anything about any Armenian roots. Does anyone have a good source or know for sure? Vulturell 00:08, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

Good point....but i keep hearing it by the Armenian community...once a story is told it sort of sticks and becomes fact...I think he has no link to Armenia although he did learn the language, maybe thats why the confusion arizes..

Actually he is listed as an Aromanian, not an Armenian.

The only information about his ancestry we got is the imdb page, Armenian forums and fan biography pages. I'm guessing the majority of this articles information was copied from those fan pages. [1] Vartanm 01:44, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I definitely think it should be taken out--the probability that Gregory Peck's grandfather, born around 1865 in the USA, would have any Armenian ancestry is virtually zero. There is no reputable source supporting this, and as far as I can tell, none of the many intrepid celebrity genealogists on the internet even know the parentage of Samuel Peck. I'm taking it out. TMiscia 04:30, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

"Gregory Peck: a Charmed Life" by Lynn Haney states "Gregory Peck Sr. came from Rochester, NY. His mother [Catherine Ashe] was an Irish immigrant and his father was of English descent." Another source "Gregory Peck A Biography" by Gary Fishgall (mentioned in the article) states "There [Rochester, NY] she [Catherine Ashe] eventually met and married a young local of English descent by the name of Samuel Peck." 66.213.29.2 11:56, 12 October 2007 (UTC)Iwerdhon

Can I conclude that those of you, who denies Peck's Armenian ancesty, really find it ordinary and insignificant that someone of "strict" British-Irish origin and not a polyglot at all, started studying Armenian in his middle ages? Not French, Spanish, Chineese, German, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, etc but Armenian! 212.34.225.50 (talk) 14:20, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

@212.34.225.50: Firstly, you are responding in a discussion section that hasn't been active since 2007. Secondly, more important that figuring out whether Peck's language interests are "ordinary and insignificant" or not, are Wikipedia's rules about what sort of content should be included. It is not our duty as editors to make deductions or draw conclusions based on flimsy evidence. What you are proposing is that we assert Peck's Armenian ancestry on the basis that we all personally find it unusual that a middle-aged guy would start studying Armenian. That is classic original research and that's not how encyclopedia's work. If Peck had Armenian ancestry, find a reliable source that asserts that fact. Until then, it's all rumors and whispers. Anecdotally speaking, I knew a 20-something Thai girl who studied Armenian for no other reason than she was interested in the culture. So maybe it is weird that British-Irish Peck studied Armenian, but also, maybe it isn't. Who knows, he could have just wanted to be sure he got the best lahmajun from his local bakery. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:03, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

Lack of World War 2 Military Service?

I'd like to see more information about why he was exempted from military service in World War 2. I guess he wasn't popular enough of a media celebrity to generate the animosity Frank Sinatra did for being an able bodied man of draft age, who was not the necessary and sole support of his family, who evaded service. Surely if he was fit enough to act on stage and in films, he was fit enough to serve in uniform in some capacity; in fact the article states the following:

"A physically powerful man, he was known to do a majority of his own fight scenes, rarely using body or stunt doubles. In fact, Robert Mitchum, his on-screen opponent in Cape Fear, told about the time Peck once accidentally punched him for real during their final fight scene in the movie, he felt the impact for days afterward."

Thus his not serving in this context is shocking. I'm surprised that more of an issue of this was not made at the time or thereafter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.17.117.146 (talk) 05:04, 20 May 2012‎ (UTC)

I'm amused that you were so shocked that you couldn't read the article properly. In the Acting career section it clearly states "...he was exempt from military service owing to a back injury suffered while receiving dance and movement lessons from Martha Graham as part of his acting training." I hope you're less distressed now. HiLo48 (talk) 05:51, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Sure I read that; my point is that it's simply not credible, even if he was able to find a doctor to sign off on it, given the context I described above. His back is so bad he can't serve in the military, but it's good enough for him to do stunts in Hollywood? Ditto for Frank Sinatra, whose situation was more publicized, causing him to be viewed by many as a malingerer who had used money and influence to get out of serving and who made millions while hundreds of thousands of other able bodied youths were were being killed and wounded. Thus I'm wondering if he faced any of the same controversy at the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.17.117.146 (talk) 15:54, 6 June 2012‎ (UTC)

Gun Control Advocate

Says who? My whole life I was told that Gregory Peck owned guns and loved them with a passion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.22.162.119 (talk) 08:55, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

The little bracketed numbers that occasionally appear after a line of text are links to references. After the line about Peck being a gun control advocate, there was a link to a reference. I've since added a second link to a reference. So the answer to your question, "Says who?" is "The references." Cyphoidbomb (talk) 14:46, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

John Peck Footnote

It is being overlooked that the oldest son of Gregory Peck considered the options available to youth as he approached draft eligibility, and he chose to enter the Peace Corps. His tour of service to humanity was in the African nation of Malawi. When his time was up, John Peck climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with some friends. This deserves as much recognition as the military service of his brother - with whom this writer had correspondence many years ago. --Edward Chilton — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.82.56.3 (talk) 09:47, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Revisiting Armenian background

Gregory Peck's 1/4 Armenian ancestry is supported by Geni.com, which confirms the account his part Armenian second wife encouraged him to learn the language to rediscover his roots and that his paternal English and Irish ancestry both come from his grandmother. He's also a distinct Thomas Ashe. Geni is a very reliable source and contains lots of background information about Peck, and I believe it is significant enough to site and Armenian background in the article, which seems to have been included in the past. --Steverci (talk) 03:26, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

Barev Steverci, the page you have linked to appears looks to me like it contains a copy/pasted earlier version of this article, for instance something created around 2007, based on the language of the intro paragraph and an explanation of Armenian ancestry on his paternal side. (Finding the exact version of the article would take quite a while...) A reliable source by Wikipedia's standards suggests that there is some clear editorial standards and oversight, and I don't know that Geni.com has clear editorial guidelines for its prose. Isn't it mostly a user-contributed site anyway? If so, that would preclude it from being considered reliable for our purposes, like IMDb is typically not considered reliable, and even Wikipedia itself could not be used as a reference. Hope that helps. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 05:02, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

Cyphoidbomb According to Geni's policy, only employees and admins can edit public profiles of famous people; user-contributors mostly make files about their own families. Since this website was created in 2006, it's possible Wikipedia was the one who copied from Geni. Geni doesn't seem to have an edit history like we do, but the link I just gave shows it does in fact have standards and guidelines. --Steverci (talk) 15:14, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

@Steverci: I don't see where on the page it says that only Geni employees can edit public profiles of famous people. I see the table where under "Public figures" it says that Your Collaborators, Your Relatives, Geni Curators and Geni Employees can edit the profile. That doesn't imply in any way that there is clear editorial oversight (i.e. aggressive fact-checking like newspaper and book publishers perform) over the prose content in the profile. Geni Curators, according to that page, are volunteers, just as we are volunteers, and if the family and "collaborators" are able to edit the article, how is it any different from any other user-contributed site? You could bring this up at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard and ask the community to weigh in on whether or not Geni.com would be suitable for inclusion, if you'd like. But you might want to look at these discussions first: [2][3] and [4]. Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:13, 5 December 2014 (UTC)