Gregory Peck Public Memorial Monday

Legendary actor Gregory Peck will be laid to rest in a private service in Los Angeles Monday morning, with a public memorial scheduled for later in the afternoon.

Gregory Peck died at his Los Angeles home early Thursday. He was 87.

Peck's longtime friend Brock Peters -- who played the black man Peck defended in "To Kill A Mockingbird" -- will deliver the eulogy.

Also speaking at the service will be Peck's four children -- Stephen, Carey, Anthony and Cecilia. His six grandchildren are also expected to attend.

His spokesman Monroe Friedman said that Peck's wife of 45 years, Veronique Passani, was by the actor's side when he died. "She told me very briefly that he died peacefully," Friedman told The Associated Press. "She was with him, holding his hand, and he just went to sleep. He had just been getting older and more fragile. He wasn't really ill. He just sort of ran his course and died of old age."

Peck was saluted by the American Film Institute earlier this month, when the film organization named his Atticus Finch character the top hero in film history for "To Kill a Mockingbird." In the 1962 classic, Finch was a faultlessly noble widower raising a daughter and son amid Southern racial unrest as he defended a black man accused of raping a white woman.

The role earned Peck his only Best Actor Oscar. He was also nominated four of the first five years he was in films, for Best Actor for his roles in "The Keys to the Kingdom" (1944), "The Yearling" (1946), "Gentlemen's Agreement" (1947) and "Twelve O'Clock High" (1949).

Peck also starred in such classics as "Roman Holiday," "Spellbound," "The Guns of Navarone," "MacArthur," "Cape Fear" and "The Omen."

Peck served as president of the Motion Picture Academy and was active in the Motion Picture and Television Fund, American Cancer Society, National Endowment for the Arts and other causes.

He won an honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1968 for his off-screen efforts.

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• June 12, 2003: Legendary Actor Gregory Peck Dies