George Peppard, Jr. (October 1, 1928 – May 8, 1994) was a popular American film and television actor. An alcoholic for most of his adult life, he died of pneumonia as a result of complications of lung cancer.
His most notable role occurred early in his career when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), although he is probably more familiar among younger viewers for his role as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith in the cult 1980s television show The A-Team, where he is the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squadron.
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George Peppard (Jr.) was born in Detroit, Michigan, as the son of George Peppard a building contractor and opera singer Vernelle Rohrer. He graduated from Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Michigan and served in the Marine Corps. He attended Purdue University where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi (where he was studying Civil Engineering) and Carnegie Mellon University.
He made his stage debut in 1949 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse then enrolled in the Actors Studio in New York and worked in summer stock. A start in Broadway lead to his first television appearance, with a young Paul Newman, in an episode of The United States Steel Hour in 1956. A Broadway appearance in "The Pleasure of His Company" in 1958 led to a MGM contract.
Making a strong film debut in The Strange One (1957), he was noticed when he played Robert Mitchum's illegitimate son in the popular melodrama Home from the Hill (1960). His good looks, elegant manner and strong acting helped him receive his most famous film role as Paul Varjak in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) with Audrey Hepburn. This role made him a major film star lasting from the early to late 60's. However, probably partly due to his drinking, Peppard choose tough guys roles in big, ambitious pictures where he was somewhat overshadowed by ensemble casts.
As his drinking problem affected his reputation, he was reduced to a string of B films by the early 70's. Peppard moved to television with a leading role in the TV series Banacek (1972 - 1974), (part of the NBC Mystery Movie series of the 1970s), and played in Doctors' Hospital, in 1975, and in several other television films, which became in the later part of his career his major dedication. Still interested in film but with the offered film roles becoming increasingly uninteresting, he acted in, directed and produced the drama Five Days from Home (1979).
In the mid-'80s he again obtained success on television for his role as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith in the cult 1980s television show The A-Team, where he is the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squadron.
Peppard married five times, and the father of three children:
Peppard finally gave up drinking in 1978 and spent his later years trying to help other alcoholics enter into recovery.
A life long smoker Peppard was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1992. He died of pneumonia on May 8, 1994, at the age of 65. He is buried in Northview Cemetery in Dearborn, Michigan.