Robert Preston (actor) - Wikipedia. Robert Preston Meservey (June 8, 1. March 2. 1, 1. 98. American stage and film actor best remembered for originating the role of Professor Harold Hill in the 1.

Leslie William Nielsen, OC (11 February 1926 – 28 November 2010) was a Canadian actor, comedian, and producer. He appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television. Kilauea; Mount Etna; Mount Yasur; Mount Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira; Piton de la Fournaise; Erta Ale.

The Music Man and the 1. Golden Globe Award nominations. Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in S. O. B. (1. 98. 1) and again in Victor/Victoria (1.

For portraying Carroll "Toddy" Todd in the latter, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 5. Academy Awards. Early life[edit]Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. Rea; 1. 89. 5- 1. Frank Wesley Meservey (1. American Express respectively.[1][2] After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into World War II, he joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as an intelligence officer in the U. S. 9th Air Force with the 3. Bomb Group (Medium). At the end of the war in Europe, the 3.

Captain Robert Meservey, an S- 2 Officer (intelligence), were stationed in St. Trond, Belgium. Meservey's job had been receiving intelligence reports from 9th Air Force headquarters and briefing the bomber crews on what to expect in accomplishing their missions. When he began appearing in films, the studio ordered Meservey to stop using his actual family name.[3] As Robert Preston, the name by which he would be known for his entire professional career, he appeared in many Hollywood films, predominantly Westerns but not exclusively.

Beau Geste (1939) is director/producer William Wellman's superb, high adventure tale set in the desert - a classic melodramatic, rousing film of the late 30s from. Directed by Marty Feldman. With Marty Feldman, Ann-Margret, Michael York, Peter Ustinov. An aging Sir Hector Geste takes a young greedy wife who's after his famed. About Glenn Erickson. Glenn Erickson left a small town for UCLA film school, where his spooky student movie about a haunted window landed him a job on the CLOSE. Directed by William A. Wellman. With Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy. Three adopted English brothers join the French Foreign Legion in North.

He was "Digby Geste" in the sound remake of Beau Geste (1. Gary Cooper and Ray Milland, and featured in North West Mounted Police (1. Cooper. He played an LAPD detective in the noir This Gun for Hire (1. Preston is, however, probably best remembered for his performance as "Professor" Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man (1. He had already won a Tony Award for his performance in the original Broadway production in 1. When Willson adapted his story for the screen, he insisted on Preston's participation over the objections of Jack L. Warner, who had wanted Frank Sinatra or Cary Grant for the role.

Preston appeared on the cover of Time magazine on July 2. In 1. 96. 5 he was the male part of a duo- lead musical, I Do! I Do! with Mary Martin, for which he won his second Tony Award. He played the title role in the musical Ben Franklin in Paris, and originated the role of Henry II in the stage production of The Lion in Winter, which Peter O'Toole portrayed in the film version, receiving an Academy Award nomination.

In 1. 97. 4, he starred alongside Bernadette Peters in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical Mack & Mabel as Mack Sennett, the famous silent film director. That same year the film version of Mame, another famed Jerry Herman musical, was released with Preston starring, alongside Lucille Ball, in the role of Beauregard Burnside.

In the film, which was not a box- office success, Preston sang "Loving You", which was written and composed by Herman especially for Preston in the film. In 1. 96. 1, Preston was asked to make a recording as part of a program by the President's Council on Physical Fitness to get schoolchildren to do more daily exercise. Copies of the recording of the song, Chicken Fat, written and composed by Meredith Willson, performed by Preston with full orchestral accompaniment, were distributed to elementary schools across the nation and played for students as they performed calisthenics. The song later became a surprise novelty hit and part of many baby- boomers' childhood memories.

Also in 1. 96. 2, Preston played an important supporting role as wagon master Roger Morgan, in the epic Metro- Goldwyn- Mayer film How the West Was Won. In 1. 97. 9 and 1.

Preston portrayed determined family patriarch Hadley Chisholm in the CBSwesternminiseries, The Chisholms. Rosemary Harris played his wife, Minerva. Preston's character died in the ninth of the thirteen episodes which also included co- stars Ben Murphy, Brian Kerwin, Brett Cullen, and James Van Patten. Watch Captain EO Online Facebook.

The story chronicled how the Chisholm family lost their land in Virginia by fraud and migrated to California to begin a new life. Although he was not known for his singing voice, Preston appeared in several other stage and film musicals, notably Mame (1. Victor/Victoria (1. Academy Award nomination.

His other film roles include Ace Bonner in Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner (1. Big Ed" Bookman in Semi- Tough (1. Dr. Irving Finegarten in Blake Edwards' 1. Hollywood satire, S. O. B. His last theatrical film role was in The Last Starfighter (1. Centauri". He said that he based his approach to the character of Centauri on that which he had taken to Professor Harold Hill.

Indeed, the role of Centauri was written for him with his performance as Harold Hill in mind.[5] He also starred in the HBO 1. Finnegan, Begin Again with Mary Tyler Moore. His final role was in the television film. Outrage! (1. 98. 6).[6]He was an intensely private person.

There are no official biographies of Preston but he gave several interviews late in his career. Preston died of lung cancer on March 2. He was survived by his wife, Catherine, and father, Frank.[6]Stage productions[edit]The Male Animal (May 1. Jan 3. 1, 1. 95. 3)Men of Distinction (Apr 3. May 2, 1. 95. 3)His and Hers (Jan 7, 1. Mar 1. 3, 1. 95. 4)The Magic and the Loss (Apr 9, 1. May 1, 1. 95. 4)The Tender Trap (Oct 1.

Jan 8, 1. 95. 5)Janus (Nov 2. Jun 3. 0, 1. 95. 6)The Hidden River (Jan 2. Mar 1. 6, 1. 95. 7)The Music Man (Dec 1.

Apr 1. 5, 1. 96. 1)Too True to be Good (Mar 1. Jun 1, 1. 96. 3)Nobody Loves an Albatross (Dec 1. Jun 2. 0, 1. 96. 4)Ben Franklin in Paris (Oct 2. May 1, 1. 96. 5)The Lion in Winter (Mar 3, 1. May 2. 1, 1. 96. 6)I Do! I Do! (December 5, 1. June 1. 5, 1. 96.

Mack & Mabel (Oct 6, 1. Nov 3. 0, 1. 97. 4)Sly Fox (Dec 1. Feb 1. 9, 1. 97. 8)The Prince of Grand Street (Mar 7, 1. Mar 2. 5, 1. 97. 8, Philadelphia; Mar 2. Apr 1. 5, 1. 97. 8, Boston; closed during pre- Broadway tryouts)[7]Filmography[edit]Radio appearances[edit]Accolades[edit]Theater[edit]References[edit]^Ross, Lillian; Ross, Helen (1. The Player: A Profile Of An Art. New York City: Simon and Schuster.

Retrieved 2. 01. 5- 1. Robert Preston Meservey". Ancestry. com. Retrieved 2. Mano, D. Keith (June 2. Playing Devilishly Against Type in Victor/victoria, He's Bigger—and Campier—than Life".

People. 1. 7 (2. 5). Retrieved 2. 01. 5- 1. Theater: Pied Piper of Broadway". TIME. July 2. 1, 1.

Retrieved 2. 01. 5- 1. Plummer, Ryan (July 1. Everything You Never Knew About The Making Of Last Starfighter".

Retrieved 2. 01. 5- 1. Page, Tim (March 2. Robert Preston, Actor, is dead at 6. The New York Times. Retrieved 2. 01. 5- 1. The Prince of Grand Street: Closed on the road (1.

Ovrtur^"Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. Winter 2. 01. 3. External links[edit].

Cinema Papers July- August 1. UOW Library. Cinema Papers July- August 1.

Published on Aug 3.