Moby Dick (1956 film) actor Walter Huston as Ahab, but he had died in 1950. Peck went on to play the role of Father Mapple in the 1998 television miniseries adaptation of Melville's novel, with Patrick Stewart as Ahab. Welles later used the salary from his cameo to fund his own stage production of "Moby Dick", in which Rod Steiger played Captain Ahab. Gregory Peck, comparing his performances in this film and the 1998 "Moby Dick" miniseries, said he liked the miniseries better because it was more faithful to the novel. During a meeting to discuss the screenplay, Ray Bradbury informed John Huston that
Moby Dick (1956 film) 1972. The schooners used were "Harvest King" and "James Postlethwaite", both from Arklow, Ireland. The film went overbudget, from $2 million to around $4.4 million, which crippled Moulin Productions; "Moby Dick" was ultimately sold to United Artists (The rights would later revert to MGM starting in 1981) in order to recoup some of the Mirisch brothers' debt (Warner Bros. still distributed the film, corresponding to their original licensing agreement; When the agreement ended, United Artists took over the film's distribution rights). "Moby Dick" did not recoup its budget upon its initial release. Peck and Huston intended to shoot Herman Melville's