OF THE LATE DEAR DEPARTED
FILM/TV ACTOR GEORGE PEPPARD
TO ME GEORGE WILL ALWAYS BE THE CIGAR CHOMPING COLONEL HANNIBAL SMITH.
THOSE SEXY COME TO BED EYES COMBINED WITH HIS GORGEOUS SMILE AND HIS HAIR SO GREY/WHITE
YOUNG OR OLD HE WAS SO HANDSOME HE REALLY WAS GORGEOUS GEORGE
GEORGE PLAYED A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT ROLES IN HIS ACTING CAREER (SEE FILMOGRAPHY)
SOME OF MY PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE
OPERATION CROSSBOW, THE BLUE MAX, BANACEK, TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVERS.
WHATEVER ROLE HE PLAYED HIS PRESENCE LIT THE SCREEN HE GAVE 110% TO EVERYTHING HE DID.
A LOT AS BEEN WRITTEN AND SAID OF HOW AWKWARD HE COULD BE.
I GATHER HE WAS ALSO KNOWN AS REBELLIOUS HE BELIEVED IN WHAT WAS RIGHT AND STOOD UP FOR THE UNDERDOG.
WELL NO ONE IS PERFECT NOT EVEN THE FAMOUS WE ALL HAVE BAD DAYS NO ONE EVER KNOWS WHAT REALLY GOES ON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.
IN BOTH TV AND WRITTEN INTERVIEWS I HAVE SEEN GEORGE WAS PROFESSIONAL & RESPECTFUL SWEET & FUN TO BE AROUND AND ABOVE ALL A GENTLEMAN.
The following article is from The New York Times
By Glenn Collins
Published: Tuesday, May 10, 1994
George Peppard Dies; Stage and Screen Actor aged 65
George Peppard, the actor who played a would-be writer smitten with Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and was better known to younger generations as the cigar-chomping, tough-guy commander of "The A-Team" on television, died on Sunday at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center. He was 65 and lived in Los Angeles.
The cause was pneumonia, said his press representative, Cheryl J. Kagan. He was admitted to the hospital on Thursday because he had trouble breathing, Ms. Kagan said. In 1992, a cancerous tumor was removed from Mr. Peppard's right lung, she said.
In the 1970's, Mr. Peppard (pronounced pep-PARD) starred as a shrewd Polish-American detective in "Banacek," which ran from 1972 to 1974 on NBC, and as Jake Goodwin, a neurosurgeon, on "Doctors' Hospital," an NBC medical drama in the 1975-76 season. Leader of 'The A-Team'
But he is perhaps best known for his role on "The A-Team" on NBC as John (Hannibal) Smith, a former Army colonel leading a team of renegade Vietnam veterans who became soldiers of fortune. The show, which ran from 1983-87 on NBC, was a ratings blockbuster but drew fire from some critics, who described it as a violent demolition derby.
"The character is probably the best part I've had in my career," Mr. Peppard once told an interviewer. "It was a good script, and a good script is hard to find."
Mr. Peppard was born in Detroit, the only child of George Peppard Sr., a building contractor, and Vernelle Rohrer Peppard, a light-opera singer and voice teacher.
Although he majored in civil engineering at Purdue University, he was an early participant in the Purdue Playmakers. He continued acting after he transferred to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1955.
After moving to New York, he was accepted into the Actors Studio, where he studied the Method with Lee Strasberg. In 1956 he made his Broadway debut at the Longacre Theater in "Girls of Summer," by N. Richard Nash, in a production with Pat Hingle, Arthur Storch and Shelley Winters.
After his film debut in "The Strange One" (1957), adapted from a Calder Willingham novel about brutality in a Southern military academy, Mr. Peppard returned to Broadway in "The Pleasure of His Company" (1958). After supporting roles in "Pork Chop Hill" (1959) and "Home From the Hill" (1960), Mr. Peppard won his first starring role, opposite Leslie Caron in a film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's novel "The Subterraneans." But it was not until he played a writer being kept by a wealthy matron in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" that he received recognition as a box-office draw.
His role as a Howard Hughes-like playboy in "The Carpetbaggers" (1964) was admired by some critics, who praised his ability to play a forceful, caddish character.
Mr. Peppard's more than 25 films included "Operation Crossbow" (1965), "The Blue Max" (1965), "House of Cards" (1969) and "The Executioner" (1970). In recent years he toured the country in "Papa," a solo show about Ernest Hemingway, and in "The Lion in Winter," by James Goldman. Most recently, he was a co-star on the March 3 episode of the television series "Matlock," which was a pilot for a series in which Mr. Peppard hoped to play a private investigator.
He was twice married to Elizabeth Ashley, his co-star in "The Carpetbaggers." Both marriages ended in divorce. His other wives were Helen Davies, Sherry Boucher, Alexis Adams and Laura Taylor.
In addition to Laura Taylor Peppard, he is survived by a daughter, Julie; two sons, Brad and Christian, and three granddaughters, all of Los Angeles.
LINKS
http://www.georgepeppardforeverfanclub.com/
http://georgepeppard.come2me.nl
