Winston Churchill - PROCEEDINGS of the International Churchill Societies 1990-91

A Tribute to Lee Remick
by Gregory Peck
ICS Blenheim Award Dinner,
RMS Queen Mary, Long Beach, California, 4 May 1991

Thank you. I am honored and pleased to be here, to have been invited, to add what I can to this handsome evening of tribute to Lee Remick.

There cannot be another American actress so well suited - by her beauty, her high spirits, her intelligence, and more than that, by the mystery of a rare quality which I would call a depth of womanliness - to play the mother of Winston Churchill. If that sounds like a brief description of Jennie Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill, then so be it. It is the most accurate description I can give you of another great American lady, an artist and a shining star in her own right - in films, on the Broadway and West End stages, and on television: Miss Lee Remick.

It has been my privilege to work in only one film with Lee. It was called The Omen. It had to do with Satanism. It had some horrifying special effects; it was a spine tingler, excruciatingly suspenseful - and complete nonsense - and a blockbluster. People lined up for blocks to see it. While the studio executives took bows as the money rolled in, only Lee and I knew the secret of the film's extraordinary success.

We did it! It was our special artistry, our sensitive portrayal of a married couple very much in love, to whom all those dreadful things were happening. We provided the human element that made it all work. Playing opposite Lee, it was easy to make the human element work.

She plays her roles with an open heart, an open mind, keen intelligence, and a depth of feeling that takes the play acting out of her work and makes the events on the screen appear to be real.

Since Lee burst on the screen in 1957 in A Face in the Crowd, her list of co-stars, who have waited their turn to play opposite her (no fools they), is impressive: Paul Newman, Orson Welles, James Stewart, Montgomery Clift, Jack Lemmon, Steve McQueen, James Garner, Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, Paul Scofield, Richard Burton, Richard Dreyfuss, among others. Lee makes them all look good. Playing opposite this clear-eyed Yankee girl with the appealing style and femininity that graces every one of her roles just simply brings out the best in a man.

For an actress seemingly without a manic, driving obsession for more success, more acclaim, more publicity, Lee has built a body of work that,has won her the respect and affection of her colleagues, and of the public. There have been twenty-eight movies, twenty-five television shows and six stage plays. It is an admirable amount of work of the highest quality. I won't list all the titles, but as a reminder that we are honoring a working artist this evening - a few of them:

In the theater: Wait Until Dark, Bus Stop (in London), I Do! I Do! (in Los Angeles), and Follies in 1985 (yes, the lady sings - beautifully). The Films - some of them: A Face in the Crowd, The Long Hot Summer, Anatomy of a Murder, Wild River, Sanctuary, Days of Wine and Roses, The Detective, A Delicate Balance, The Omen, The Europeans, The Competition and Tribute. On television - a remark- able list of performances - among them The Tempest, The Blue Knight, Ike - The War Years, Haywire, The Letter, The Gift of Love, Eleanor - in Her Own Words, and recently, Dark Holiday and Bridge to Silence. Above all perhaps in television, a shining example of Lee's talent and skill is Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill. In the next ten minutes, we'll be privileged to view scenes from that gallant and memorable performance.

Editor's Note: There followed a filmed synopsis of Miss Remick's role as "Jennie," for which she was presented with the twelfth Blenheim Award by ICS United States. Lee Remick died eight weeks after this event, after a protracted and gallant battle against cancer. Though very frail on this, her final public appearance, it was obvious as the evening wore on that ICS had done exactly the right thing. Lee left us with all flags bravely flying. Her contribution to our understanding of Sir Winston is a lasting tribute to her skill and her memory.

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