PAGE B10 - MARCH 31, 2016 - LA JOLLA LIGHT
SOCIAL LIFE
www.lajollalight.com
Playhouse honors the late, great Gregory Peck
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a Jolla Playhouse’s annual gala March 19 honored the theater’s co-founder Gregory Peck and his family in celebration of what would have been the acclaimed actor’s 100th birthday on April 5. Three of Peck’s children – Cecilia Peck Voll, Carey Peck and Stephen Peck — were in attendance; along with longtime family friend and Hollywood star Angie Dickinson. During the festivities, the Playhouse presented a tribute to Peck’s life, career and legacy. The gala took place in the UCSD Theatre District with proceeds going to support Playhouse education and outreach initiatives, as well as its new play development programs, such as Page To Stage, DNA New Work Series, the Without Walls program and artist commissions. Debby Jacobs chaired the event that featured a concert by Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist David Bryan “Memphis,” who is also a Grammy Award-winning keyboard player and founding member of Bon Jovi. The evening also included performances by Erin McKeown, composer/co-lyricist for the Playhouse’s 2016 world-premiere musical “Miss You Like Hell,” who offered a medley from the production, and by actress Betsy Wolfe, who performed songs from the Playhouse’s 2017 world-premiere production featuring the music of Jimmy Buffett. La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by actors Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer. For 18 summers, Hollywood actors came to La Jolla to explore their craft on the stage until the theater took a hiatus to focus on building a permanent, world-class theater facility. Nearly 70 years later, the Playhouse has become one of the most prestigious regional theaters in the country, dedicated to the development of new work and new theatrical forms. Peck grew up in La Jolla and attended San Diego State College before enrolling as a pre-med student at the University of California at Berkeley. There he developed a taste for acting, and upon graduation he headed to New York, where he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his Broadway debut in “The Morning Star” in 1942, and made his first film appearance as a Russian guerrilla fighter in “Days of Glory” in 1944. He earned his first Academy Award nomination for his performance in “The Keys of the Kingdom” (1944), and three years later, he received a second Oscar nomination for his role in “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947). Peck’s other notable films include Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound,” “The Yearling” and “The Boys from Brazil,” among many others. He was honored with an Academy Award for his performance as the ethical and compassionate Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch in the screen adaptation of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962). Outside of film work, Peck served as chairman of the American Cancer Society and of the trustee board of the American Film Institute, which he co-founded, and was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for three years.
COURTSEY FILE PHOTOS
Actor Gregory Peck was born April 5, 1916 in La Jolla and died June 12, 2003 in Los Angeles
Playhouse founders Mel Ferrar, Dorothy McGuire and Gregory Peck.
Bill and Lynelle Lynch, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Katherine Faulconer, Gail and Ralph Bryan PHOTOS BY VINCENT ANDRUNAS FILE PHOTOS Iris Strauss COURTSEY with Irwin and Joan Jacobs
Robert Brill, Bryna and Des McAnuff, David Weiner, Debby Buchholz
UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla and Thespine Kavoulakis, Blair Harris, Robert Singer and Judith Harris