See Gregory Peck’s Oscar-winning turn as Atticus Finch better

Oscar memories

On Tuesday, Universal Home Entertainment is bringing out a newly restored, 50th anniversary edition of “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Blu-ray and standard DVD. Based on the novel by Harper Lee, this delicate drama set in the South during the Depression era revolves around an honest, caring attorney, Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), who defies the bigotry of the town to defend an African American (Brock Peters) on a charge that he raped a white woman. Atticus became the defining role for Peck, who earned his only competitive acting Academy Award for lead actor for the film on April 8, 1963, at the ceremony at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Peck, who had been nominated four times before, had stiff competition — Burt Lancaster for “The Birdman of Alcatraz,” Jack Lemmon for “Days of Wine and Roses,” Marcello Mastroianni for “Divorce, Italian Style” and Peter O’Toole for “Lawrence of Arabia.”