- Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch
- Mary Badham as Scout
- Phillip Alford as Jem
- John Megna as Charles Baker "Dill" Harris
- Frank Overton as Sheriff Heck Tate
- Rosemary Murphy as Miss Maudie Atkinson
- Ruth White as Mrs. Dubose
- Brock Peters as Tom Robinson
- Estelle Evans as Calpurnia
- Paul Fix as Judge John Taylor
- Collin Wilcox as Mayella Violet Ewell
- James Anderson as Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell
- Alice Ghostley as Miss Stephanie Crawford
- Robert Duvall as Arthur "Boo" Radley
- William Windom as Horace Gilmer, District Attorney
- Crahan Denton as Walter Cunningham
- Richard Hale as Nathan Radley
Uncredited roles in order of appearance
- Kim Stanley as the narrator; the voice of adult Scout – "Maycomb was a tired old town – even in 1932 when I first knew it – that summer I was six years old."
- Paulene Myers as Jessie, Mrs. Dubose's servant, sitting close to her on the Dubose porch.
- Jamie Forster as Mr. Townsend, sitting on a bench, with three men, near the courthouse: "If you're lookin' for your daddy, he's inside the courthouse."
- Steve Condit as Walter Cunningham Jr., Mr. Cunningham's son, at dinner with the Finch family: "Yes, sir. I don't know when I had roast. We been havin' squirrels and rabbits lately."
- David Crawford as David, Tom Robinson's son, sitting on the steps to the Robinsons' shack: "Good evening."
- Kim Hamilton as Helen, Tom Robinson's wife, inside the Robinsons' shack: "Good evening, Mr. Finch."
- Dan White as the mob leader approaching as Atticus Finch sits in front of the jailhouse: "He in there, Mr. Finch?"
- Kelly Thordsen as a heavyset member of the mob who grabs and picks up Jem: "Well, I'll send you home."
- William "Bill" Walker as Reverend Sykes, at the courthouse for Tom Robinson's trial: "Miss Jean Louise? Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."
- Charles Fredericks as the court clerk at Tom Robinson's trial: "Place your hand on the bible, please. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth...?"
- Guy Wilkerson as the jury foreman at Tom Robinson's trial: "We find the defendant guilty as charged."
- Jay Sullivan as the court reporter at Tom Robinson's trial: "Yes."
- Jester Hairston as Spence, Tom Robinson's father in front of the Robinsons' shack: "Hello Mr. Finch. I'm Spence, Tom's father."
- Hugh Sanders as Doctor Reynolds, the town physician who examines Jem: "He's got a bad break, so far as I can tell. Somebody tried to wring his arm off."
Casting
James Stewart declined the role of Atticus Finch, concerned that the story was too controversial.[6] Universal offered the role to Rock Hudson when the project was being first developed but producer Alan J. Pakula wanted a bigger star.[7]
Pakula remembered hearing from Peck when he was first approached with the role: "He called back immediately. No maybes. [...] I must say the man and the character he played were not unalike".[8] Peck later said in an interview that he was drawn to the role because the book reminded him of growing up in La Jolla, California.[9]
The 1962 softcover edition of the novel opens:
- "The Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, reminds me of the California town I grew up in. The characters of the novel are like people I knew as a boy. I think perhaps the great appeal of the novel is that it reminds readers everywhere of a person or a town they have known. It is to me a universal story – moving, passionate and told with great humor and tenderness." Gregory Peck.
