Table of Biography
Greta Kukkonen was a beautiful Finnish-American real estate broker. Also, Greta Kukkonen came into the headlines after she became the first wife of the famous actor, Gregory Peck.
Early Life
Greta Kukkonen was born on 25th January 1991 in her birthplace, Helsinki, Finland. Also, her birth name is Eine Matilda Kukkonen.
Similarly, she had a mixed nationality Finnish and American. Greta’s family migrated to the United States in the year 1983.
Education
Regarding the broker’s educational background, she attended Finlandia University and received an honorary doctorate in the year 1994.
Death
Greta’s death happened on January 19, 2008, in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. At that time, she was ninety-six years old. Moreover, Greta died just 6 days before her 97th birthday.
The cause of Greta’s death must be her old age. Likewise, her former husband, Gregory also died when he was eighty-seven years old in June 2003. He dies in his sleep from bronchopneumonia.
Relationship Status
Greta Kukkonen’s first husband was Charles Rice. She changed her name to Greta Peck after she became the wife of Gregory Peck.
The couple’s wedding was in October 1942 and the marriage ended on December 26, 1975. Together they had 3 sons, Jonathan (1944-1975), Stephen (1945), and Carey (1949).
Moreover, their eldest son, Jonathan, a television journalist, committed suicide on June 26, 1975, at the age of thirty years. The actor Ethan Peck is one of Peck’s grandsons.
While Greta and Gregory Peck were having a marital life, Peck was in an affair with his co-star Ingrid Bergman.
Moreover, he even confessed the affair to Brad Darrach of People in a 1987 interview, saying: “All I can say is that I had a real love for her [Bergman], and I think that’s where I ought to stop…I was young. She was young. We were involved for weeks in close and intense work.”
After his divorce from Greta on New Year’s Eve in 1955, Peck became the husband of Véronique Passani. Their marriage lasted from the year 1932 to 2012.
The pair had a son, Anthony Peck who was born in 1956, and a daughter, Cecilia Peck who was born in 1958.
Caption: Greta Kukkonen with her ex-husband (Source: Pinterest)
Net Worth 2024
Greta was a real estate broker who just came into the spotlight after she became the wife of the popular actor, Gregory Peck.
Her net worth was around $1.3 million. Moreover, Greta was the owner of a beauty salon and an estate agency.
Her agency was conscientiously working on charity works such as collecting money for Finnish Second World War veterans.
Moreover, for her contributions, she got an award with the Order of the White Rose in the year 1967 from the Finnish Government.
Career and Professional Life
Greta Kukkonen even changed her name to Greta when she was young in the United States. She has to do this because her teacher at the time was unable to say her real name, Eine.
Talking about Greta Peck or Kukkonen’s career, she was employed in several stages of her career.
He worked as a hairdresser, real estate agent, and in the business field, as well as getting into charity works for war veterans, and many more.
For her kind and hard work, Greta won the 1967 First Class Medal of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.
In addition, Kukkonen was also a voluntary member of the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce. Also, she was the winner of a voluntary doctorate from the Finnish College in the year 1994.
Greta was able to speak Finnish even in her early days, even though she was not as well as when she was in Finland.
Moreover, Greta surprised Erkki and Ilona Kannon, who had written a book which is all about Greta herself multiple times, by talking with them in clear Finnish.
Talking about her ex-husband’s career, his real name is Eldred Gregory Peck and was born on April 5, 1916.
Gregory Peck was an American actor. He was a famous star in his days from the 1940s to the 1960s.
In the year 1999, the American Film Institute gave a name Gregory among the 25 Greatest Male Stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema, ranking him at No. two.
After completing his studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse together with Sanford Meisner, he started showing his presence in stage productions.
He was representing his skills in more than 50 plays and 3 Broadway productions at that time.
Her ex-husband’s career
The actor achieved critical success in the drama “The Keys of the Kingdom” of the year 1944. The director of this drama was John M. Stahl who helped Gregory to achieve his first Academy Award nomination.
Similarly, Peck was featured in a series of successful movies which also include the romantic drama “The Valley of Decision” of the year 1944, “Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound” of the year 1945, and even a family movie “The Yearling” of the year 1946.
Then, he got some experience in lukewarm commercial reviews at the end of the 1940s. Additionally, he was present in “The Paradine Case” of the year 1947 and also in “The Great Sinner” of the year 1948.
After that Peck achieved global recognition in the 1950s and 1960s.
He presented back-to-back the book-to-movie transformation of “Captain Horatio Hornblower” in the year 1951 and the biblical drama “David and Bathsheba” in the year 1951.
Luckily both of them were commercial successes. Moreover, Peck was featured together with Ava Gardner in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” of the year 1952 and with Audrey Hepburn in “Roman Holiday” of the year 1953).
These made Peck achieve a Golden Globe award as well. Furthermore, films, in which Peck was present, are “Moby Dick” (1956, and its 1998 mini-series), “The Big Country” of the year 1958, “The Guns of Navarone” of the year 1961, and “Cape Fear” (1962, and its 1991 prequel).
Some more about her ex-husband’s career
Also, “How the West Was Won” of the year 1962, “The Omen” of the year 1976, and “The Boys from Brazil” of the year 1978.
All over Peck’s career, he often featured protagonists with “fiber” within a moral surrounding.
“Gentleman’s Agreement” of the year 1947 was disciplined on topics of antisemitism, while Peck’s role in “Twelve O’Clock High (1949)” traded with post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of World War II.
In addition, Gregory was the winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his character of Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” of the year 1962.
It was a transformation of the modern classic of the familiar name which spins around racial discrimination, for which Peck even achieved universal admiration.
In the year 1983, he collaborated with Christopher Plummer in “The Scarlet and The Black” where his role was of Hugh O’Flaherty.
The role was of a catholic priest who secured several escaped Allied POWs and Jewish people in Rome at the time of World War II.
Aside from the entertainment industry, Peck was also into politics, where he was challenging the House Un-American Activities Committee in the year 1947. He was considered a political rival of President Richard Nixon.
Moreover, President Lyndon B. Johnson admired Gregory with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the year 1969 for his lifetime generous works. Unfortunately, the actor died when he was eighty-seven years old.
Caption: Greta Kukkonen with her former husband at an event (Source: Pinterest)
Greta Kukkonen – Body Measurements
Talking about Greta Kukkonen’s physical appearance, she had a slim body type with a beautiful face. She had a pair of beautiful blue eyes with grey hair.
Similarly, she had a fair complexion with big eyes. Further details regarding Greta’s body measurements, weight, and height are not available for now.
However, she was having good health as she was alive for almost 97 years. Moreover, Greta was no less than any actress when it came to her dressing sense, her looks, and her personality.
Greta Kukkonen – Social Media
Coming to the social media status, Greta Kukkonen was not active on any of the social media platforms. It was not the time when people were chatting with each other on social media platforms during her time.
So she and her former husband were not active and were not using any type of social media platform. Also. almost every image of them is also in black and white.