Gregory Peck Atticus Finch, a Depression-era lawyer and widowed father, in a film adaptation of the Harper Lee novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". Released in 1962 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the Southern United States, this film and his role were Peck's favorites. In 2003, Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was named the greatest film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute. Peck served as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1967, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute from 1967 to 1969, Chairman
Atticus Finch public perception of the legal profession", before questioning whether "Atticus Finch is a paragon of honor or an especially slick hired gun." In 1992 Monroe Freedman, a professor of law and noted legal ethicist, published two articles in the national legal newspaper "Legal Times" calling for the legal profession to set aside Atticus Finch as a role model. Freedman argued that Atticus still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. Freedman's article sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession holding Atticus Finch as a hero and the reason for