George Peppard (October 1, 1928 - May 8, 1994) was an American film and television actor. He starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), although he is probaby more famous among younger viewers for his role as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith in the cult 1980s television show The A-Team, where he’s the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squadron.
Biography
Peppard was born in Detroit, Michigan, as the son of an opera singer and a building contractor. He graduated from Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Michigan. He attended Purdue University, Carnegie Mellon University, and The Actor’s Studio.
Before the A-Team, Peppard had the leading role in the TV series Banacek (1972 - 1974), (part of the NBC Mystery Movie series of the 1970s), and played in Doctor’s Hospital , in 1975, and in several other television films, which became in the later part of his career his major dedication.
Peppard died at the age of 66 in Los Angeles due to complications in the treatment of the cancer he was suffering from.