
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.

New York Town

Going Hollywood: The '30s

Night of 100 Stars II

Disclosure

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade

Big City

Victor/Victoria

The Bell Telephone Hour

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

The Music Man

西部開拓史

What's My Line?

This Gun for Hire

Beau Geste

Night of 100 Stars

Whispering Smith

Union Pacific

スター・ファイター

All the Way Home

Best of the Badmen

Illegal Traffic

When I Grow Up

The World of Hammer

The Macomber Affair

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

Reap the Wild Wind

General Electric Theater

North West Mounted Police

Tulsa

Cloudburst

Pacific Blackout

Finnegan Begin Again

Your Show of Shows

Blood on the Moon

The Merv Griffin Show

The Chisholms

The Last Frontier

Junior Bonner

Variety Girl

Broadway's Lost Treasures

Rehearsal for Murder

Mame

The Lady Gambles

Child's Play

Star Spangled Rhythm

Disbarred

Night Plane from Chungking

S.O.B.

Wake Island

King of Alcatraz

Face to Face

Robert Montgomery Presents

Semi-Tough

My Outlaw Brother

Parachute Battalion

The 20th Century Fox Hour

Island of Love

September Gun

Wings Up

The Sundowners

The Night of January 16th

Typhoon

Outrage!

Moon Over Burma

The Lady from Cheyenne

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Climax!

Wild Harvest

My Father's House

Chita Rivera: A Lot Of Livin' To Do

Sentinels in the Air

Confession

Made in Heaven