George Peppard

MAIN

•

BIRTHDAY

October 01, 1928

Detroit, MI

DIED

May 08, 1994

RECENT CREDITS

Battle Beyond the Stars (FILM) Dec. 25, 1980

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (FILM) May. 1, 1968

P.J. (FILM) Mar. 1, 1968

Tobruk (FILM) Jan. 1, 1967

The Blue Max (FILM) Jun. 22, 1966

View all George Peppard Credits

BIOGRAPHY

Expand Full Bio

Though actor George Peppard could have succeeded on his looks alone, he underwent extensive training before making his first TV and Broadway appearances. The son of a building contractor and a singer, Peppard studied acting at Carnegie Tech and the Actor's Studio. His early TV credits include the original 1956 production of Bang the Drum Slowly, in which he sang the title song. He made his film debut in 1957, repeating his Broadway role in Calder Willingham's End As a Man, retitled The Strange One for the screen. His star continued to ascend in such films as Home From the Hill (1960) with George Hamilton, and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) as the boyfriend/chronicler of carefree Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn). He was also effective as James Stewart's son in How the West Was Won (1962), a characterization that required him to age 30 years, and as the Howard Hughes counterpart in The Carpetbaggers (1963), in which he co-starred with the second of his five wives, Elizabeth Ashley. In 1978 he made a respectable directorial debut with Five Days From Home, but never followed up on this. A familiar television presence, he starred on the TV series Banacek (1972-1973), Doctors Hospital (1975), and The A-Team (1983-1987), and delivered a powerhouse performance as the title character in the 1974 TV-movie Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Case. Forced to retire because of illness, George Peppard died of cancer at the age of 64.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Collapse Full Bio