Robert Preston (actor)
Robert Preston Meservey (June 8, 1918 – March 21, 1987) was an American stage and film actor and singer. He is best known for originating the role of Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical The Music Man for which he received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He reprised the role in the 1962 film adaptation, for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.
Robert Preston
Preston made his Broadway debut in The Male Animal in 1952. He won two Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical for The Music Man (1957) and I Do! I Do! (1967) and was Tony-nominated for Mack and Mabel (1975). Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in S.O.B. (1981) and again in Victor/Victoria (1982), the later earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. (née Rea) and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and a billing clerk for American Express.[2][3][4]
Personal life and death[edit]
Preston married actress Catherine Craig in 1940.[13]
On March 21, 1987, at age 68, Preston died of lung cancer.[12]
He is the subject of a 2022 biography, Robert Preston: Forever the Music Man, written by Debra Warren.[14]