Greta Peck (Kukkonen)

Gregory Peck oli naimisissa 1942–1954 suomalaissukuisen Greta Kukkosen kanssa, ja häntä kutsuttiinkin lempinimellä "suomalaisten vävypoika". Peck vieraili Suomessa tammikuussa 1953. Pariskunta sai kolme poikaa: Jonathan, Stephen ja Carey.

Greta Peck (former Greta Konen née Eine Matilda Kukkonen) (January 25, 1911, Helsinki – January 19, 2008, Beverly Hills, California) was a Finnish-American real estate broker and first wife of Hollywood actor Gregory Peck. Her first husband was Charles Rice.

Greta Peck, a Finnish girl

Suomen Silta has an article about Greta (Eine Kukkonen) who was married to movie star Gregory Peck. She was born 25 Jan 1911 in Eira Hospital in Helsinki to Emilia Piipari (1879-1954)and Matti Kukkonen (1880-1935). Not much is known about her father except that he was born in St. Petersburg and studied there at the Czar's goldsmithing academy to become a goldsmith and clockmaker. He tried to set up a shop on Aleksanterinkatu in Helsinki, but was denied a spot. He was angry about that and emigrated to New York 1913 on the Majestic. Emilia and their 4 children followed in 1915. Her siblings were Paavo (Paul, b. 1904), Aune (Anne, b. 1906) and Valo (Veli, b. 1907). The family returned to their home in Ruoholahti for four years in 1919 and then left Finland for good in 1922. Her parents divorced in New York. Greta's maternal grandfather was Karl Henrik Viljanen (1852-1914) and he and his brother married sisters from Riihimäki. Her mother's old home in Ruoholahti was the first cooperative building in the city to be constructed by workers themselves. That's where Greta's parents married. Greta changed her name from Eine to Greta in honor of Greta Garbo. Gregory Peck married Greta in Manhattan in 1942. By 1953 they had agreed to divorce - she would not discuss the reason. He remarried to a French journalist, but Greta never remarried. She was awarded a First Class Medal of the Order of the White Rose by President Kekkonen in 1967 for her work to advance relations between Finland and the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Kukkonen

http://finntimes.com/?p=2021

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Peck