Robert Preston

Twenty year old Robert Preston in an early portrait sitting from 1938. He was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, on June 18, 1918. He was a trained musician, playing several instruments, and in high school became interested in theatre. He joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, taking classes and appearing in scores of plays alongside such soon-to-be-well-known actors as Dana Andrews, George Reeves, Victor Mature and Don DeFore. During one play a Paramount scout saw him and he signed a contract with the studio, which renamed him Robert Preston. His early film credits include “Beau Geste” (1939), “Typhoon” (1940), “Reap The Wild Wind” (1942) and “This Gun For Hire” (1942). In 1946, after serving in England with the Army Air Corps, Preston married Kay Feltus (aka Catherine Craig), whom he had known in Pasadena. He struggled through numerous unfulfilling roles in the late '40s, then relocated to New York and concentrated on theatre. He played many roles on Broadway and in 1957 got the part that would immortalize him in entertainment history: Professor Harold Hill in the musical "The Music Man". He won a Tony Award for the role and repeated it in the film version (The Music Man (1962)). Now a star of the first magnitude, Preston alternated between stage and film, winning another Tony for "I Do, I Do" and appearing to enormous good effect in such films as “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” (1960), “All the Way Home” (1963) and “Junior Bonner” (1972). He received an Oscar nomination for his triumphant portrayal of a witty, gay entertainer in “Victor/Victoria” (1982). He died in March 1987 from lung cancer (aged 68), after a career that took him from modest supporting lead to national treasure.

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