ROBERT PRESTON: A One-Person Play in Two Acts
by Michael B. Druxman on 12/09/21
“I have always had confidence in my own ability.” -- Robert Preston
He may be best remembered as “Professor Harold Hill”
in THE MUSIC MAN, but Robert Preston had both a successful stage and
film career that began in the mid-1930s and continued for the remainder
of his life.
Of course, his public persona changed over the years.
In
his early films, like UNION PACIFIC, BEAU GESTE, REAP THE WILD WIND and
THIS GUN FOR HIRE, he played a “tough guy”; often the “heavy”. But, in
the 1950s, he moved to New York and began working in the theatre.
Once
he’d starred in Meredith Wilson’s classic musical and repeated the role
in the movie version, Preston found himself being cast in many other
stage musical, including BEN FRANKLIN IN PARIS, I DO! I DO! and MACK
& MABEL, as well as major films like HOW THE WEST WAS WON, MAME,
S.O.B. and VICTOR/VICTORIA.
