Editing George Peppard (section)

==Early life==
George Peppard Jr. was born October 1, 1928, in [[Detroit]], the son of [[General contractor|building contractor]] George Peppard Sr and music voice teacher Vernelle Rohrer Peppard.<ref name='The New York Times 1994-05-10' /> His mother had five miscarriages before giving birth to George. His family lost all their money in the Depression, and his father had to leave George and his mother in Detroit while he went looking for work.{{sfn|Ashley|1978|pp=76–77}} Peppard grew up in the Detroit suburb of [[Dearborn, Michigan]]. He graduated from [[Dearborn High School]] in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Kurt Anthony Krug, Press & Guide Newspapers|date=June 8, 2010|title='A-Team' movie has Dearborn tie|url=https://www.pressandguide.com/news/a-team-movie-has-dearborn-tie/article_0573ce86-2bc2-5c58-a897-690d99b092c0.html|access-date=April 5, 2021|website=Press and Guide}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Peppard enlisted in the [[United States Marine Corps]] on July 8, 1946, and rose to the rank of [[corporal]], leaving the Corps at the end of his enlistment in January 1948.<ref name='USMCStars George Peppard'>{{cite book| last1=Wise| first1=James Edward | last2=Rehill| first2=Anne Collier| title=Stars in the Corps: Movie Actors in the United States Marines| volume=2|editor1=Anne Collier Rehill| publisher=Naval Institute Press| year=1999| location=Annapolis, MD| pages=159–166| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l3Z78rt_oHsC&q=Stars+in+the+Corps:+Movie+Actors+in+the+United+States+Marines| access-date=August 14, 2010| isbn=978-1-55750-949-9| quote=Like its predecessor, Stars in the Corps is a valuable resource for scholars and aficionados of motion picture films, military buffs and historians, and students of American popular culture. This volume is the equal to and in several ways surpasses its earlier companion and is itself a valuable reference. Structurally, the volume contains a preface and introduction, two parts comprising 28 short biographies, four appendices, and 101 black-and-white images. A very useful Bibliography lists 92 books and periodicals, thirteen reference works, twelve interviews or correspondence, five major official records or archives, and five other sources. A six-page double column index lists, in the main, proper nouns and is an appropriate finding aid.}}</ref>

During 1948 and 1949, he studied civil engineering at [[Purdue University]] where he was a member of the Purdue Playmakers theatre troupe and [[Beta Theta Pi]] fraternity.<ref name='The New York Times 1994-05-10' /> He became interested in acting, being an admirer of [[Walter Huston]] in particular. "I just decided I didn't want to be an engineer," he said later. "It was the best decision I ever made."<ref name="busy"/><ref name="pur">{{cite news |last=Browning |first=Norma Lee |date=June 19, 1966 |title=Peppard Engineered Stardom at Purdue |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-peppard-engineered-stard/171311467/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |page=E10 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Peppard then transferred to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now [[Carnegie Mellon University]]) in [[Pittsburgh]], where he earned his [[bachelor's degree]] in 1955. (It took longer than normal because he dropped out for a year when his father died in 1951 and he had to finish his father's jobs.)<ref>{{cite news| title=George Peppard Is Starring In Movie Now At Lyric| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pOxOAAAAIBAJ&pg=5310%2C3058093| access-date=April 27, 2014| newspaper=[[Ludington Daily News]]| date=May 20, 1971}}</ref> He also trained at the [[Pittsburgh Playhouse]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Conner| first=Lynne|  date=June 4, 2007| title=Pittsburgh In Stages: Two Hundred Years of Theater| publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press| page=152| isbn=978-0-8229-4330-3}}</ref> While living in Pittsburgh, Peppard worked as a radio DJ at WLOA in [[Braddock, Pennsylvania]]. While giving a weather update, he famously called incoming snow flurries "flow snurries". This was an anecdote he repeated in several later interviews, including one with former NFL player [[Rocky Bleier]] for WPXI.<ref>{{cite web| title=George Peppard and the famous "flow snurries"| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM1B6iuvvgQ| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/MM1B6iuvvgQ| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live| website=YouTube| date=August 11, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In addition to acting, Peppard was a pilot. He spent a portion of his 1966 honeymoon training to fly his [[Learjet]] in [[Wichita, Kansas]].<ref>{{cite journal| journal=Air Progress| title=A Pfalz Friend| date=October 1979}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Manners |first=Dorothy |date=1966-05-29 |title=George Peppard Retains His Image Of A Loner' |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/newspaper-clippings/title/hkpxfluvcrykupykxhhdgmzmgnwusnos_ip-10-166-46-173_1745892446844 |access-date=2025-04-29 |work=[[The News and Courier]] |page=5 |publication-place=[[Charleston, South Carolina]] |via=[[GenealogyBank.com]]}}</ref>