Fitzwater Denounces Gregory Peck Over Anti-Bork TV Ad

WASHINGTON —  President Reagan’s spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, denounced actor Gregory Peck today for what he called a “patently outrageous and deliberately untrue” television commercial opposing the nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court.

Fitzwater said he saw the anti-Bork advertisement on television Thursday night for the first time.

“To say that Americans will lose their freedoms, as these ads claim, is patently outrageous and deliberately untrue. Gregory Peck ought to be ashamed.”

“I am outraged,” Fitzwater said. “It’s an affront to the process.”

Asked about a Washington Post-ABC poll showing a turnaround in public opinion with a slight plurality opposed to Bork, Fitzwater said all polls show “a large undecided vote” and some of the anti-Bork sentiment “reflects the ad campaign.”