Posted 5:06 PM by Gene

Gregory Peck and David Brinkley at least superficially had a lot in common: Good looks, earnestness, a low-keyed nature and deep baritones, from (Brinkley) or identified with (Peck) the South, representatives of a media past that no longer exists. Both could have played Abraham Lincoln, and while I don't know if "the elder statesman of TV news" could have been an actor, Peck could easily have been a network-TV anchorman. While it is true that Brinkley became a star because of a gimmick -- the match with the long-deceased Chet Huntley, which was for quite a while more popular than Uncle Walt -- unlike the 'dos of our day Brinkley could write, and observe, with a trenchant wit that should have come to the surface far more than the demands of TV news would let it. As for Peck, it is to his credit that, while he did appear in a fair number of Valenti-era movies [i.e., automatic stinkers, or as the movie-ad-blurb copywriters would say, masterpieces], he refused to do "turkeys," and he even starred in a few gems -- mostly early on. Another word that comes to mind for both gentlemen: integrity -- and I say that in spite of Brinkley's unfortunate shilling in retirement for ADM; after all, Chet appeared at a piano bar for American Airlines just before he died. We forgive you. RIP.