Robert Preston [Meservey]

Preston [Meservey], Robert (1918–87), actor. Born in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, he was raised in California and studied at the theatre school of the Pasadena Playhouse. He made occasional West Coast appearances while becoming a film actor who specialized in tough men and Western villains. In New York, his versatility was displayed when he succeeded José Ferrer in 1951 in the revival of Twentieth Century and when he next portrayed Joe Ferguson in a 1952 revival of The Male Animal. After a series of failures Preston scored a hit as the duped husband Gil in Janus (1955). Broadway stardom finally came with his mesmerizing performance as con man Harold Hill in The Music Man (1957), followed by the title role in Ben Franklin in Paris (1964), King Henry II in The Lion in Winter (1966), husband Michael in I Do! I Do! (1966), and moviemaker Mack Sennett in Mack and Mabel (1974). His last Broadway appearance was as a replacement in another con‐man role, Foxwell J. Sly in Sly Fox (1977). Preston was a virile, handsome, full‐voiced leading man whose theatrical delivery and twinkle in his eye made him unique.