Robert Preston (actor)
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Robert Preston Meservey (June 8, 1918 - March 21, 1987), better known as Robert Preston, was an American actor.
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Early life
Preston was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a garment worker. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. He would later serve as an intelligence officer with the U.S. 9th Air Force during World War II.
Career
Preston appeared in many Hollywood films, but is probably best remembered as "Professor" Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical, The Music Man (1962), for which he won a Tony Award for his performance in the original Broadway production. In 1974, he starred opposite Bernadette Peters in the Broadway musical "Mack and Mabel" as Mack Sennett, the famous silent film director. Although he was not a singer, he appeared in several other stage and film musicals, notably Mame (1974) and Victor/Victoria (1982), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. His final role was in the TV movie Outrage! (1986). He died of lung cancer in March, 1987 at the age of 68.
Films
- King of Alcatraz (1938)
- Union Pacific (1939)
- Beau Geste (1939)
- North West Mounted Police (1940)
- The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)
- Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
- This Gun for Hire (1942)
- Wake Island (1942)
- Whispering Smith (1948)
- Tulsa (1949)
- The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)
- The Music Man (1962)
- How the West Was Won (1962)
- All the Way Home (1963)
- Child's Play (1972)
- Mame (1974)
- Semi-Tough (1977)
- Victor/Victoria (1982).
- The Last Starfighter (1984).