Born 1928 in Detroit, Michigan, American actor George Peppard made his stage debut in 1949 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. He did a variety of jobs to pay his way during this time, such as working as a disc jockey, being a radio station engineer, teaching fencing, driving a taxi and being a mechanic in a motorcycle repair shop.
Peppard is best remembered for his role as struggling writer Paul Varjak when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and later portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers (1964).
On television, Peppard played the title role of millionaire insurance investigator and sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s mystery series Banacek. He played Col. John “Hannibal” Smith, the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squad in the hit 1980s action show The A-Team.
Peppard was married five times and was the father of three children. Despite health problems in his later years, he continued acting. In 1994, just before his death from pneumonia, he completed a pilot with Tracy Nelson for a new series called The P.I.
Take a look at these vintage photos to see Portrait of a young and handsome George Peppard in the 1950s and 1960s.
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