Born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton Highlands, MA; trained at the Pasadena Playhouse. American leading man of vast charisma. The son of a garment worker and a record store clerk, he grew up in Los Angeles. 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. Even in the distinguished company of Playhouse veterans like Victor Jory and Samuel S. Hinds, young Preston Meservey, or Pres, as he was always known to intimates, was an acknowledged star in the making. During one play, a Paramount scout saw him and he signed a contract with the studio, which renamed him Robert Preston. After several roles in inconsequential films, Preston became a favorite of director Cecil B. DeMille, who cast him in several films but became nevertheless one of the few people Preston actively and publicly disliked. 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 1940s, then relocated to New York and concentrated on theatre. He played many roles on Broadway and in 1957 began the part that would immortalize him in entertainment history, that of Professor Harold Hill in the musical The Music Man. He won a Tony® Award for the role and repeated it in the film version. 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). Other notable credits include UNION PACIFIC and BEAU GESTE (both 1939), TYPHOON and NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE (both 1940), REAP THE WILD WIND, WAKE ISLAND and THIS GUN FOR HIRE (all 1942), WILD HARVEST (1947), BIG CITY, BLOOD ON THE MOON and WHISPERING SMITH (all 1948), THE LADY GAMBLES and TULSA (both 1949), and THE SUNDOWNERS (1950). From the early 1950s to the early 1960s, Preston turned to television, making a few big screen appearances in films such as FACE TO FACE (1952), THE LAST FRONTIER (1955). Once he came back to feature films, he started turning in his best work -- with a 10-year break from 1963 to 1972 for Broadway that included The Lion in Winter, I Do! I Do! and Mack & Mabel -- in THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, THE MUSIC MAN, HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962), ALL THE WAY HOME (1963), JUNIOR BONNER and CHILD'S PLAY (both 1972), MAME (1974), SEMI-TOUGH (1978), S.O.B. (1981), VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982) and THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984). Preston died in 1987 from lung cancer, after a career that took him from modest supporting lead to national treasure.  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1982: VICTOR/VICTORIA 1 nomination