Robert Preston
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Robert Preston (June 8, 1918 – March 21, 1987) was an American stage and film actor and singer, best known for his collaboration with composer Meredith Willson and originating the role of Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical The Music Man and the 1962 film adaptation; the film earned him his first of two Golden Globe Award nominations. Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in S.O.B. (1981) and again in Victor/Victoria (1982). For portraying Carroll "Toddy" Todd in the latter, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 55th Academy Awards. Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a garment worker and a record store clerk. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School, training as a musician and playing several instruments, but quit at age sixteen to study acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. Preston made his Broadway debut in 1940 in the play The Philadelphia Story. He went on to star in a number of successful Broadway musicals, including The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), and I Do! I Do! (1966). He also appeared in a number of films, including The Music Man (1962), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), and Victor/Victoria (1982). Preston was a versatile actor who could play a wide range of roles. He was known for his charisma, his singing voice, and his comic timing. He was a two-time Tony Award winner and was nominated for an Academy Award. He was also a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Preston died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 68. He was survived by his wife, Catherine Craig; the couple had no children. A biography of the actor, @Robert Preston - Forever The Music Man”, was published in 2022.
Known for
Credits
How the West Was Won (1962)
as Roger Morgan
The Last Starfighter (1984)
as Centauri
Victor/Victoria (1982)
as Carroll "Toddy" Todd
Disclosure (2020)
as Carole 'Toddy' Todd (archive footage)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
as Dan Cutler
North West Mounted Police (1940)
as Ronnie Logan
The Music Man (1962)
as Harold Hill
Blood on the Moon (1948)
as Tate Riling
S.O.B. (1981)
as Dr. Irving Finegarten
The Lady Gambles (1949)
as David Boothe
All the Way Home (1963)
as Jay Follet
Night of 100 Stars II (1985)
as Self
Wings Up (1943)
as Himself
Mame (1974)
as Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside
Best of the Badmen (1951)
as Matthew Fowler
Union Pacific (1939)
as Dick Allen
This Gun for Hire (1942)
as Det. Michael Crane
Variety Girl (1947)
as Robert Preston
Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
as Robert Preston (uncredited)
The Last Frontier (1955)
as Col. Frank Marston
The Macomber Affair (1947)
as Francis Macomber
Beau Geste (1939)
as Digby Geste
Broadway's Lost Treasures (2003)
as Harold Hill (segment "The Music Man")
Night of 100 Stars (1982)
as Self
Whispering Smith (1948)
as Murray Sinclair
Wake Island (1942)
as Pvt. Joe Doyle
Rehearsal for Murder (1982)
as Alex Dennison
Finnegan Begin Again (1985)
as Mike Finnegan
Child's Play (1972)
as Joseph Dobbs
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)
as Rubin Flood
Pacific Blackout (1941)
as Robert Draper
September Gun (1983)
as Ben Sunday
Tulsa (1949)
as Brad Brady
My Father's House (1975)
as Tom Lindholm Sr.
Outrage! (1986)
as Dennis Riordan
Made in Heaven (1956)
as Zachary Meredith
Semi-Tough (1977)
as Big Ed Bookman
The Night of January 16th (1941)
as Steve Van Ruyle
Sentinels in the Air (1956)
as Narrator (voice)
Island of Love (1963)
as Steve Blair
Junior Bonner (1972)
as Ace Bonner
Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
as Self - Host
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004)
as Self (archive footage)
King of Alcatraz (1938)
as Robert MacArthur
Wild Harvest (1947)
as Jim Davis
When I Grow Up (1951)
as Father Reed
Illegal Traffic (1938)
as Charles Bent Martin
Chita Rivera: A Lot Of Livin' To Do (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Parachute Battalion (1941)
as Donald Morse
New York Town (1941)
as Paul Bryson, Jr.
My Outlaw Brother (1951)
as Joe Walter
The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)
as Steve Lewis
Disbarred (1939)
as Bradley Kent
Face to Face (1952)
as Jack Potter
Moon Over Burma (1940)
as Chuck Lane
Cloudburst (1951)
as John Graham
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1980)
as Stranger
Night Plane from Chungking (1943)
as Nick Stanton
Typhoon (1940)
as Johnny Potter
Confession (1956)
as Self - Host
Big City (1948)
as Rev. Philip Y. Andrews
The Sundowners (1950)
as James Cloud ('Kid Wichita')