Facts About George Peppard

He had an excellent careerin the movies and TV.

George PeppardPhoto byCreative Commons: Jack de Nijs for Anefo / Anefo

Peppard is perhaps best known for his work as John “Hannibal” Smith in the TV series, The A-Team. He also had another TV series, though not as well remembered, Banacek. Not surprisingly, I remember him best from a western.

Rough Night in Jericho is an underrated, at least in my opinion, western. It is noteworthy for a number of things, including the fact it’s the only movie in which Dean Martin played the bad guy. Peppard played a former lawman who helps break Dean Martin’s hold on a town. Beyond that, here are some things you might not have known about George Peppard.

1: In an attempt to secure his financial future, Peppard bought a cattle range. To finance the ranch, he signed a five-picture deal with Universal.

Generally speaking, the pictures weren’t very good, and it’s reported that started Peppard to drinking. That’s rough when your own movies drive you to drink.

2: While working as a radio DJ at WLOA in Braddock, Pennsylvania, he coined a new weather term.

Snow flurries became flow snurries. I believe those conditions sometimes precede a Sharknado.

3: His second film role was in “Pork Chop Hill.”

He got the roll, in part, because movie audiences were unfamiliar with him. So, did his first film help or hurt his career?

4: He spent part of his honeymoon getting training as a pilot.

No fear of flying there.

5: His reviews from Breakfast at Tiffany’s weren’t good.

I’m not sure how movie critics felt about him, but he didn’t get along with co-stars Audrey Hepburn and Patricia Neal. Neal called him, “cold and conceited.” Sounds like, “Continental Breakfast at Tiffany.”

6: He had a big role in the classic western, “How the West Was Won.”

How the West Was Won was a sprawling ensemble piece with a huge cast of big-time stars. And out of all of them, Peppard had arguably the biggest role. At least he was the male lead alive at the end of the movie.

7: In a 1964 interview he said, “My performances bore me.”

Maybe that’s because he was, “cold and conceited” like Patricia Neal said.

8: “The Blue Max” was a huge hit for Peppard.

Peppard was so good as a World War I German air ace, he didn’t even bore himself.

9: Peppard was the original choice for the Steve McQueen role in the original, “The Magnificent Seven.”

I guess quantifying “the original’ The Magnificent Seven may have been unnecessary as both Peppard and McQueen had passed away before the remake.

10: George was the original Blake Carrington of TV’s “Dynasty,” but lost the role after battling with the show’s producers about the character.

Peppard felt the character was too much like Dallas’s J. R. Ewing. Considering the monster ratings Dallas had at that time, that may have been the idea.