George Peppard, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of building contractor George Peppard, Sr. and opera singer Vernelle Rohrer. He graduated from Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Michigan.  Peppard enlisted in the United States Marine Corps July 8, 1946, and rose to the rank of Corporal in the 10th Marines, leaving the Corps at the end of his period of enlistment in January 1948.  During 1948 and 1949, he studied Civil Engineering at Purdue University where he was a member of the Purdue Playmakers theatre troupe and Beta Theta Pi fraternity.  He then transferred to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1955. He also trained at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. In addition to acting, Peppard was a pilot. He spent a portion of his 1966 honeymoon training to fly his Learjet in Wichita, Kansas.  Peppard made his stage debut in 1949 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. After moving to New York City, Peppard enrolled in The Actors Studio, where he studied the Method with Lee Strasberg. His first work on Broadway led to his first television appearance, with a young Paul Newman, in The United States Steel Hour (1956), as the singing, guitar-playing baseball player Piney Woods in Bang the Drum Slowly.  Peppard’s Broadway appearance in The Pleasure of His Company (1958) led to an MGM contract. Following a strong film debut in The Strange One (1957), he played the illegitimate son of Robert Mitchum’s character in the popular melodrama Home from the Hill (1960).

His good looks, elegant manner and superior acting skills landed Peppard his most famous film role as Paul Varjak in Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audrey Hepburn, based on a story by Truman Capote. This 1961 role boosted him briefly to a major film star. His leading roles in that film’s wake included the epic western How the West Was Won in 1962 (his character spanned two sections of the episodic Cinerama extravaganza) and war stories The Victors in 1963 and The Blue Max in 1966.  In between, Peppard starred in The Carpetbaggers, a 150-minute saga of a ruthless, Hughes-like aviation and film mogul based on a best-selling novel by Harold Robbins. It turned out to be one of the biggest box-office hits of 1964.  Peppard started choosing tough-guy roles in big, ambitious pictures where he was somewhat overshadowed by ensemble casts; for example, his role as German pilot Bruno Stachel, an obsessively competitive officer from humble beginnings who challenges the Prussian aristocracy during World War I in The Blue Max (1966). For this role, Peppard earned a private pilot’s license and did much of his own stunt flying, although stunt pilot Derek Piggott was at the controls for the famous under-the-bridge scene.  He was cast as the lead in Sands of the Kalahari (1965) but walked off the set after only a few days of filming.

A string of Peppard films that followed made little or no impact, including Tobruk, P.J., Penelope[disambiguation needed], The Executioner, House of Cards and One More Train to Rob, as well as a romantic comedy called What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?, co-starring Mary Tyler Moore.  Among other disappointments during this period were a pair of westerns, 1970’s Cannon for Cordoba, in which Peppard played the steely Captain Rod Douglas, who has been put in charge of gathering a group of soldiers on a dangerous mission into Mexico, and 1967’s Rough Night in Jericho in which he was billed over Dean Martin and Jean Simmons, a reflection of his status at that point in his career.  Peppard then turned to television, where he had a notable success with Banacek (1972–74), part of the NBC Mystery Movie series, starring in 90-minute whodunits as a wealthy Boston playboy who solves thefts for insurance companies for a finder’s fee. Seventeen episodes were produced over three seasons. He also delivered one of his most critically acclaimed,[citation needed] though rarely seen, performances in the TV movie Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Murder Case (1975), as Sam Sheppard.  Peppard appeared in the short-lived (half a season) Doctors’ Hospital (1975) and several other television films. He starred in the 1977 science-fiction film Damnation Alley, which has gone on to attain a substantial cult following. Peppard’s role in the film was reportedly turned down by Steve McQueen because of salary issues. With fewer interesting roles coming his way, he acted in, directed and produced the drama Five Days from Home in 1979.  In a rare game show appearance, Peppard did a week of shows on Password Plus in 1979. Out of five shows, one was never broadcast on NBC (but aired much later on GSN) because of comments made by Peppard regarding personal dissatisfaction he felt related to his treatment by NBC.  In his later years he appeared in several stage productions. In 1988, he portrayed Ernest Hemingway in the play PAPA, which played a number of cities including Boise, Idaho; Atlanta, Georgia; and San Francisco. Peppard financed it, and played in it. In 1992 he toured in The Lion in Winter, in which he played Henry II to Susan Clark’s Eleanor of Aquitaine.

In 1980, Peppard was offered, and accepted, the role of Blake Carrington in the TV series Dynasty. During the filming of the pilot episode, which also featured Linda Evans and Bo Hopkins, Peppard repeatedly clashed with the show’s producers, Richard and Esther Shapiro; among other things, he felt that his role was too similar to that of J. R. Ewing in the series Dallas. Three weeks later, before filming was to begin on additional episodes, Peppard was fired and the part was offered to John Forsythe; the scenes with Peppard were re-shot and Forsythe became the permanent star of the show.  In 1982, Peppard auditioned for and won the role of Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith in the TV action adventure series The A-Team, acting alongside Mr. T, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz. In the series, the A-Team was a team of renegade commandos on the run from the military for “a crime they did not commit” while serving in the Vietnam war. The A-Team members made their collective living as soldiers of fortune, but they helped only people who came to them with justified grievances.  As Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, Peppard played the leader of the A-Team, distinguished by his cigar smoking, confident smirk, black leather gloves, disguises, and distinctive catch phrase, “I love it when a plan comes together.” The show ran five seasons on NBC from 1983–1987. It made Peppard known to a new generation and is arguably his best-known role. It has been reported that the role was originally written with James Coburn in mind, but Coburn declined and thus it went to Peppard. Peppard was reportedly annoyed by Mr. T upstaging him in his public image, and at one point in their relationship refused to speak directly to Mr. T. Instead, he sent messages through intermediaries (including at times fellow cast members) and for this Peppard was occasionally portrayed by the press as not a team player.

Peppard’s last series was an intended occasional series of television movie features entitled Man Against the Mob set in the 1940s. In these TV detective films, Peppard played Los Angeles Police Detective Sgt. Frank Doakey. The second film Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders was broadcast in December 1989. A third film in this series was planned, but Peppard died before it was filmed.  Peppard overcame a serious alcohol problem in 1978, and subsequently became heavily involved in helping other alcoholics. He had smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for most of his life until he quit after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 1992. His illness never forced his retirement from acting. Peppard had completed a pilot for a new series in 1994 called The P.I., a Matlock spin-off intended to become a new television series, with co-star Tracy Nelson shortly before his death. Peppard died May 8, 1994, in Los Angeles. Although still being treated for lung cancer, Peppard’s direct cause of death was pneumonia. Peppard was buried alongside his parents George Sr, and Vernelle in Northview Cemetery, Dearborn, Michigan.