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Actor Brock Peters, best known as the black man falsely accused of rape in Robert Mulligan’s 1962 drama To Kill a Mockingbird, died at age 78 of pancreatic cancer earlier today, Aug. 23, at his home. Best Actor Academy Award winner Gregory Peck starred as the attorney who defends him.
The New York City-born Peters’ (on July 2, 1927) other movie roles include those in Otto Preminger “all-black” musicals Carmen Jones (1954) and Porgy and Bess (1959), both starring Dorothy Dandridge (with Harry Belafonte in the former and Sidney Poitier in the latter), and in two of the Star Trek feature films.
Additionally, he was featured in numerous television shows.
Brock Peters was 78.