Gregory Peck enrolled in pre-med at UC Berkley, but dropped out after 2 years and moved to New York to study at The Neighborhood Playhouse. Within 2 years he was back in California and got an Oscar nomination for his second film, The Keys to the Kingdom.
After 7 hits (including Hitchcock’s Spellbound) and 2 more Oscar nods, he decided in the 50’s to only make movies he cared about. Those included Roman Holiday, Moby Dick and one of his best known roles, the film that finally garnered him an Oscar, Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird.