Robert Preston (actor)

Robert Preston Meservey (June 8, 1918 – March 21, 1987) was an American stage and screen actor, best known for his role as 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, and received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination. 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). He co-starred alongside Steve McQueen in the Sam Peckinpah film Junior Bonner (1972). Preston collaborated twice with director Blake Edwards, first in S.O.B. (1981) and again in Victor/Victoria (1982), winning a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for his turn in the former, whilst earning him nominations for both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as winning the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor, for the latter.