Editing George Peppard (section)

===Stardom===
[[File:George Peppard a Breakfast at Tiffany's.jpg|left|thumb|George Peppard in ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'' (1961)]]
His good looks, elegant manner and acting skills landed Peppard his most famous film role as Paul Varjak in ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'' with [[Audrey Hepburn]], based on the [[Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella)|novella of the same name]] by [[Truman Capote]]. Director [[Blake Edwards]] had not wanted Peppard, but was overruled by the producers.{{sfn|Wasson|2010|p=114}} He was cast in July 1960.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=July 14, 1960 |title=Breakfast' to Star Peppard, Hepburn |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-breakfast-to-star/171312130/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=B10 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> During filming Peppard did not get along with Hepburn or [[Patricia Neal]], the latter calling him "cold and conceited".{{sfn|Wasson|2010|p=147}} According to ''Filmink'' the film confirmed that "Peppard’s strength as a leading man was being a solid centre to a movie, someone who could ground the drama around him...he would never have the pull to carry a movie on his own, but he could, in tandem, with another element."<ref name="pep"/>

In November 1961, a newspaper article dubbed him "the next big thing". Peppard said he had turned down two TV series and was "concentrating on big screen roles." His contract with MGM was for two pictures a year, allowing for one outside film and six TV appearances a year, plus the right to star in a play every second year. "In a series you don't have time to develop a character," he said. "There's no build up; in the first segment you're already established."<ref>{{cite news |last=Scott |first=John L. |date=November 12, 1961 |title=George Peppard Gives His Answer to Question: Who Is the Next Big Star? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-george-peppard-giv/171312158/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times Calendar |page=A10 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

He was meant to appear in ''Unarmed in Paradise'' which was not made.<ref>{{Cite news|title=HUBBUB OF MOVIES AVOIDED BY ACTOR: George Peppard Turns Down Bids to Premieres, Shuns Press and Publicity Tours| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/01/19/archives/hubbub-of-movies-avoided-by-actor-george-peppard-turns-down-bids-to.html| last=Schumach| first=Murray| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 19, 1961|page=24| url-access=subscription}}</ref> He bought a script by Robert Blees called ''Baby Talk'' but it was also unmade.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=February 8, 1961 |title=George Peppard Picks Up Story of Con Man, Baby |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-george-peppard-picks-up/171312202/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |page=B2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Instead, MGM cast him in the lead of their epic western ''[[How the West Was Won (film)|How the West Was Won]]'' in 1962.(His character spanned three sections of the episodic [[Cinerama]] extravaganza.) It was a massive hit.<ref>{{cite news| title=HOLLYWOOD EPIC: Metro Will Film 'How West Was Won' In Cinerama From Ohio to Pacific| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/05/21/archives/hollywood-epic-metro-will-film-how-west-was-won-in-cinerama-from.html| first=Murray| last=Shumach| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 21, 1961| page=X7| url-access=subscription}}</ref>

He followed this with a war story for [[Carl Foreman]], ''[[The Victors (1963 film)|The Victors]]'' (1963), made in Europe. He was offered $200,000 to appear in ''[[The Long Ships (film)|The Long Ships]]'' but did not want to go to Yugoslavia for six months.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=December 26, 1962 |title=Peppard's Weary of Working Abroad Actor Enjoyed 'The Victors' but Now Prefers Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-peppards-weary-of/171312239/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=D11 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was going to do ''Next Time We Love'' with [[Ross Hunter]] but it was never made.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=January 24, 1963 |title=Hunter Speechless Over Big TV Offer: Hasn't Time to Consider It |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-hunter-speechless/171312270/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=D6 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

He starred in ''[[The Carpetbaggers (film)|The Carpetbaggers]]'', a 150-minute saga of a ruthless, Hughes-like aviation and film mogul based on the best-selling [[The Carpetbaggers|novel of the same name]] by [[Harold Robbins]]. The cast included Elizabeth Ashley, who had an affair with Peppard during filming and later married him. She described him as "some kind of Nordic god – six feet tall with beautiful blond hair, blue eyes and a body out of every high school cheerleader's teenage lust fantasy."{{sfn|Ashley|1978|p=68}} Ashley claimed Peppard "was never late on set and he had nothing but scorn for actors who weren't professional enough to keep that together."{{sfn|Ashley|1978|p=72}}

She added that Peppard:
<blockquote>Never was one of those actors who believes his job is to take the money, hit the mark and say the lines and let it go at that. He felt that as an above-the-title star he had the responsibility to use his muscle and power to try and make it better and that has never stopped in him. He was unrelenting about it, to the point where a lot of executives and directors came to feel he was a pain in the ass. But the really talented people loved working with him because of all his wonderful creative energy.{{sfn|Ashley|1978|p=74}}</blockquote>

"My performances bore me", said Peppard in a 1964 interview, adding that his ambition was to deliver "one great performance. And I must say I feel a little presumptuous to shoot for that. But that's the goal, like a hockey goal. I figure I've got a choice ... not of the outcome but of the objective. And my objective is that one performance."<ref>{{cite news |last=Alpert |first=Don |date=August 4, 1963 |title=Actor George Peppard: "The Picture's the Thing' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-actor-george-peppa/171312910/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=D4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Peppard returned to television to do ''[[Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre]]'', "The Game with Glass Pieces". In March 1964 he tried to break his MGM contract to make ''The Great Adventure'' for Anthony Mann.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Peppard tries to break Metro pact|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1964-03/page/n159/mode/1up?|page=16|date=18 March 1964}}</ref>

For MGM, he appeared in ''[[Operation Crossbow (film)|Operation Crossbow]]'' (1965), a war film with [[Sophia Loren]]. It was the first film he made under a new contract with MGM to do one movie a year for three years.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=June 20, 1964 |title=Looking at Hollywood: Sinatra Hires Cameraman as Producer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-sinatra-hires-cameraman/171312956/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=A18 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

He was meant to follow this with an adaptation of the play ''[[Merrily We Roll Along (play)|Merrily We Roll Along]]'' but it was never made.<ref>{{cite news|title=George Peppard Goes to MGM's 'Merrily'|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 31, 1964| page=B13}}</ref>

"I'm an actor not a star," he said around this time, adding that he looked for "three things" in a film, "a good director, a good part and a good script. If I get two out of three of those I'm satisfied."<ref name=csm/>

Peppard starred in a thriller, ''[[The Third Day (1965 film)|The Third Day]]'' (1965) with Ashley who had become his second wife. The film was directed by [[Jack Smight]] who claimed Warner Bros only agreed to finance it because they had a deal with Peppard.<ref name="medium">{{cite web| url=https://medium.com/@lajp/this-is-the-story-of-director-jack-smights-life-in-entertainment-written-by-himself-2e735a65f837| first=JP| last=Myers| title=This is the story of Director Jack Smight's life in entertainment written by himself| date=March 8, 2018| access-date=February 27, 2020| archive-date=November 26, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191126185030/https://medium.com/@lajp/this-is-the-story-of-director-jack-smights-life-in-entertainment-written-by-himself-2e735a65f837| url-status=dead}}</ref> Peppard said when he made the film "I wasn't just broke I was up to my ears in debt."<ref name="rex"/>

He was announced for ''The Last Night of Don Juan'' for Michael Gordon but it was not made.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=March 13, 1965 |title=Peppard Will Play Don Juan for Reel: Plummer Goes to London for New John Osborne Play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-peppard-will-play/171313169/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=A17 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was cast as the lead in ''[[Sands of the Kalahari]]'' (1965) at a fee of $200,000 but walked off the set after only a few days of filming in March 1965 and had to be replaced by [[Stuart Whitman]].<ref name="Shipman">{{cite news| first=David| last=Shipman| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-george-peppard-1434902.html| title=Obituary: George Peppard| work=[[The Independent]]| location=London| date=May 10, 1994| access-date=January 16, 2015}}</ref> Paramount sued Peppard for $930,555 in damages and he countersued.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 15, 1965 |title=Actor Sues Studio for $369,444 |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-actor-sues-studio/171313222/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=A35 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Ashley later wrote:
<blockquote>What tormented George so badly was that he was caught between being an actor and a movie star. He did not start off as an untalented pretty nothing who had to be grateful for any piece of meat that was thrown his way. He was intelligent and talented but because he was six foot tall with blond hair and blue eyes he had been put in the slot of being a movie star at a time when the movie studios were still very powerful and expected you to play the game by their rules ... I don't think it was possible to be a male movie star who looked like he did and got hot when he did and not be trapped by it.{{sfn|Ashley|1978|pp=98–99}}</blockquote>
He had a huge hit with ''[[The Blue Max]]'' (1966), playing a German World War One ace, alongside [[James Mason]] and [[Ursula Andress]], directed by [[John Guillermin]].<ref name=csm>{{cite news| first=Kimmis| last=Hendrick| date=February 1, 1966| title='I'm an actor, not a star'| newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor| page=4| id={{ProQuest|510788886}}}}</ref> "He could carry these big films," said ''Filmink''.<ref name="ink">{{cite magazine| magazine=Filmink| first=Stephen| last=Vagg| title=John Guillermin: Action Man|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/john-guillermin-action-man/| date=November 17, 2020}}</ref>

Film critic [[David Shipman (writer)|David Shipman]] writes of this stage in his career:
{{Blockquote | style=font-size: 100%; | text="With his cool, blond baby-face looks and a touch of menace, of meanness, he had established a screen persona as strong as any of the time. He might have been the [[Alan Ladd]] or the [[Richard Widmark]] of the sixties: but the sixties didn't want a new Alan Ladd. Peppard began appearing in a series of action movies, predictably as a tough guy, but there were much tougher guys around&nbsp;— like [[James Cagney|Cagney]], [[Humphrey Bogart|Bogart]] and [[Edward G. Robinson|Robinson]], whose films had now become television staples."<ref name="Shipman"/>}}

Peppard played a German Jew fighting for the Allies in ''[[Tobruk (1967 film)|Tobruk]]'' (1967) alongside [[Rock Hudson]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Kevin |date=April 12, 1966 |title=Peppard Looks Like a Star Who'll Stay |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-peppard-looks-like/171313260/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=D8 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> "It's a big mistake to think I'm making a lot of money and turning out a lot of crap," he said in a 1966 interview.<ref name="rex"/>