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;">ROBERT PRESTON AND MARY MARTIN
IN THE BROADWAY HIT "I DO! i DO"
Career
Preston appeared in many Hollywood films,
predominantly Westerns, but is probably best remembered for
his portrayal of "Professor" Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man (1962). He won a Tony AwardBroadway production (1957). He appeared on the
cover of Time magazine on July 21, 1958.[3] In 1965 he was the male part of a duo-lead musical, "I Do! I Do!" with Mary Martin, for which he won his second Tony Award
and in 1974, he starred opposite Bernadette Peters in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical "Mack and
Mabel" as Mack
Sennett, the famous silent
film director. for his performance in
the original
In 1961, Preston was asked to make a recording as part of a program by the President's Council on
Physical Fitness to get schoolchildren to do more daily exercise. The song,
"Chicken Fat," written by Meredith Willson and performed by Preston with
full orchestral accompaniment, was distributed to schools across the nation and
played for students in calisthenics every morning. The song later became a
surprise novelty hit and a part of many baby-boomers' childhood memories.
In 1979 and 1980, Preston portrayed determined family patriarch Hadley Chisholm in the CBS western miniseries, The Chisholms. Rosemary HarrisBen
Murphy, Lance Kerwin,
Brett Cullen, and James
Van Patten. In the story line, the Chisholms lost their land in Virginia by fraud and left for California to begin a new life. played his wife, Minerva. The
Preston character died in the ninth of the thirteen episodes of the program.
Other co-stars were
Although he was not known for his singing voice, Preston appeared in several
other stage and film musicals, notably Mame (1974) and Victor/Victoria (1982), for which he received an Academy AwardThe Last Starfightercon man/military
recruiterFinnegan
Begin Again along with Mary Tyler Moore. His final role was in the TV movie Outrage! (1986). nomination. His last role in a
theatrical film was in (1984), in which
he played intergalactic "Centauri." Preston said that he based the character of Centauri
on Professor Harold Hill. He also starred in the HBO 1985 movie
Preston died of lung
cancer in 1987, at the age of 68.