Robert Preston

The eternal supporting actor who took Broadway by storm

Robert Preston Meservey arrived in Hollywood with a square jaw and a voice that practically begged for a stage. He signed with Paramount Pictures in the late 1930s, as was the custom at the time for anyone trying to make a living in film. But the studio decided his place was always in the shadow of the leading stars.

He played tough guys and supporting villains in films such as Union Pacific and Beau Geste in 1939.

That typecasting could have worn down his patience. And indeed, Preston spent years stuck in roles that failed to make use of his real magnetism. Directors saw a dependable face for Westerns but overlooked the comic potential hidden behind that tough-guy image.

The Rise of Harold Hill

Tired of being the eternal second banana, he decided to leave film behind and find refuge in the New York theater. It was a risky decision. In 1957, he was offered the role of a small-time con man in a musical called The Music Man.

No one expected a dramatic and western actor to be able to sing.

Preston didn't just sing; he transformed the rhythm of modern musical theater performance. He won the Tony Award and repeated his success in the 1962 film adaptation directed by Morton DaCosta. That role brought him a level of fame that Hollywood had denied him for two decades.

And the gamble paid off.

Audiences discovered that the cowboy movie type was actually a first-rate stage performer. His performance in Ya Got Trouble is still studied in acting schools today for its command of tempo and diction.

Maturity in the Mirror

His career entered a phase of careful selection, where supporting roles carried more weight than empty leading parts. In 1982, Blake Edwards cast him as Toddy in Victor/Victoria. Preston took on the challenge of playing a cabaret performer in 1930s Paris with a naturalness that disarmed critics.

He received an Academy Award nomination for that performance.

Preston understood that comedy depends on perfect timing, not exaggeration. That made him the ideal mentor for Julie Andrews on screen. His last significant film appearance came in 1984 in the science fiction movie The Last Starfighter, where he played an interstellar recruiter.

He died in March 1987 from lung cancer at Santa Barbara hospital. His artistic legacy includes more than thirty feature films and a dozen high-budget stage productions. New York critics always noted that his vocal technique remained intact until his final rehearsals. His body was cremated, and the ashes were given to his family after a private ceremony.