Robert Preston
Highest Rated: 100% Blood on the Moon (1948)
Lowest Rated: 33% Mame (1974)
Birthday: Jun 08, 1918
Birthplace: Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, USA
Dynamic musical comedy star from the stage who began his career in entertainment appearing in rugged film melodramas (e.g., the unjustly neglected B-film, "King of Alcatraz" 1938) and occasional lighter fare in the late 1930s. His promising early appearances in the Cecil B. DeMille epics "Union Pacific" (1939), "Northwest Mounted Police" (1940) and "Reap the Wild Wind" (1942) did not, however, spell major stardom with the interruption of WWII. When he returned Preston did enjoy good roles in "The Macomber Affair" (1947) and "Tulsa" (1949), but it took a lengthy sojourn on the stage, in which he surprised many with his aptitude for musical comedy, for him to become a major star.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
Movies
| Credit | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Score Yet | 60% | Crushed | Lucas (Character) | - | 2015 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Outrage! | Dennis Riordan (Character) | - | 1986 |
| No Score Yet | 80% | Finnegan Begin Again | Mike Finnegan (Character) | - | 1985 |
| 76% | 69% | The Last Starfighter | Centauri (Character) | - | 1984 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | September Gun | Ben Sunday (Character) | - | 1983 |
| No Score Yet | 64% | Rehearsal for Murder | Alex Dennison (Character) | - | 1982 |
| 97% | 86% | Victor/Victoria | Carroll "Toddy" Todd (Character) | - | 1982 |
| 89% | 31% | Semi-Tough | Big Ed Bookman (Character) | - | 1977 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | My Father's House | Tom Lindholm Sr. (Character) | - | 1975 |
| 33% | 48% | Mame | Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Character) | - | 1974 |
| 92% | 63% | Junior Bonner | Ace Bonner (Character) | - | 1972 |
| No Score Yet | 52% | Child's Play | Joseph Dobbs (Character) | - | 1972 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Island of Love | Steve Blair (Character) | - | 1963 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | All the Way Home | Jay Follett (Character) | - | 1963 |
| 86% | 74% | How the West Was Won | Roger Morgan (Character) | - | 1962 |
| 94% | 85% | The Music Man | Harold Hill (Character) | - | 1962 |
| No Score Yet | 83% | The Dark at the Top of the Stairs | Rubin Flood (Character) | - | 1960 |
| No Score Yet | 32% | Savage Wilderness | Col. Frank Marston (Character) | - | 1955 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky | Jack Potter (Character) | - | 1952 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Face to Face | Sheriff Jack Potter (Character) | - | 1952 |
| No Score Yet | 40% | Cloudburst | John Graham (Character) | - | 1951 |
| No Score Yet | 25% | My Outlaw Brother | Joe Walter (Character) | - | 1951 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | When I Grow Up | Father Reed (Character) | - | 1951 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Outlaw Brother | Joe Waldner (Character) | - | 1951 |
| No Score Yet | 27% | Best of the Badmen | Matthew Fowler (Character) | - | 1951 |
| No Score Yet | 29% | The Sundowners | James Cloud (Character) | - | 1950 |
| No Score Yet | 47% | Tulsa | Brad Brady (Character) | - | 1949 |
| No Score Yet | 27% | The Lady Gambles | David Boothe (Character) | - | 1949 |
| 83% | 65% | Whispering Smith | Murray Sinclair (Character) | - | 1948 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Big City | The Rev. Philip Y. Andrews (Character) | - | 1948 |
| 100% | 62% | Blood on the Moon | Tate Riling (Character) | - | 1948 |
| 86% | 59% | The Macomber Affair | Francis Macomber (Character) | - | 1947 |
| No Score Yet | 25% | Variety Girl | Unknown (Character) | - | 1947 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wild Harvest | Jim Davis (Character) | - | 1947 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Night Plane From Chungking | Capt. Nick Stanton (Character) | - | 1943 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Pacific Blackout | Robert Draper (Character) | - | 1942 |
| 88% | 50% | Wake Island | Pvt. Joe Doyle (Character) | - | 1942 |
| 80% | 56% | Reap the Wild Wind | Dan Cutler (Character) | - | 1942 |
| 93% | 81% | This Gun for Hire | Det. Lt. Michael Crane (Character) | - | 1942 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | New York Town | Paul Bryson Jr. (Character) | - | 1941 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Parachute Battalion | Donald `'Don'` Morse (Character) | - | 1941 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Lady From Cheyenne | Steve Lewis (Character) | - | 1941 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Night of January 16th | Steve Van Ruyle (Character) | - | 1941 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Moon Over Burma | Chuck Lane (Character) | - | 1940 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Northwest Mounted Police | Ronnie Logan (Character) | - | 1940 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Typhoon | Johnny Potter (Character) | - | 1940 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Disbarred | Bradley Kent (Character) | - | 1939 |
| No Score Yet | 65% | Union Pacific | Dick Allen (Character) | - | 1939 |
| 100% | 85% | Beau Geste | Digby Geste (Character) | - | 1939 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Illegal Traffic | Charles Bent Martin (Character) | - | 1938 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | King of Alcatraz | Robert MacArthur (Character) | - | 1938 |
TV
| Credit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62% | 66% | Terra Nova | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2011 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | What's My Line? | Guest | 1966 1963 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Climax! | Unknown (Character) | 1955-1957 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The 20th Century-Fox Hour | Unknown (Character) | 1956 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Alcoa Hour | Tom Waycroft (Character) | 1955-1956 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The United States Steel Hour | Jack Roberts (Character) | 1953-1955 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Man Against Crime | Pat Barnett (Character) | 1954 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Studio One | Unknown (Character) | 1950 |
QUOTES FROM Robert Preston CHARACTERS
Harold Hill says: We got trouble! (Oh, we got trouble!) Right here in River City! (Right here in River City!) With a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for pool! (That stands for pool!)
Harold Hill says: We got trouble! Right here in River City! With a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for pool!
Centauri says: [voice in video game] Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.
Zaneeta Shinn says: It's indecent to meet boys at the footbridge!
Tommy Djilas says: he answers Zaneeta: First thing after supper?
Winthrop Paroo says: she answers Tommy: All right! Ye Gods!
Harold Hill says: Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too late! Watch for the telltale signs of corruption! The minute your son leaves the house, does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime-novel hidden in the corncrib? Is he starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like "swell" and "so's your old man"? If so my friends, ya got trouble!
Harold Hill says: Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too late! Watch for the telltale signs of corruption! The minute your son leaves the house, does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime-novel hidden in the corncrib? Is he starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like 'swell' and "so's your old man"? If so my friends, ya got trouble!
Winthrop Paroo says: No, thank you, AMARYLLITH! (Winthrop had an embarressing lisp)
Winthrop Paroo says: No, thank you, AMARYLLITH! [Winthrop had an embarressing lisp]
Harold Hill says: Ladies and gentlemen, either you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community!
Marcellus Washburn says: Well, ain't no call for a boys' band in this town. Anything these Iowa people don't have already, they do without.
Tommy Djilas says: Mayor Shinn, your honor, your daughter and I have been going steady behind your back.
Tommy Djilas says: Mayor Shinn, your honor, your daughter and I have been going steady behind your back.
Harold Hill says: Oh, my dear little librarian. You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering.
Mrs. Paroo says: It's a well-known principle that if you keep the flint in one drawer and the steel in the other, you'll never strike much of a fire.
Marcellus Washburn says: I heard you was in steam automobiles. (to Harold Hill)
Harold Hill says: answers: I was... till someone actually 'invented' one!
Harold Hill says: "Brooklyn"? Marce, this isn't even *Dubuque*!
Harold Hill says: 'Brooklyn'? Marce, this isn't even *Dubuque*!
Harold Hill says: A man can't turn tail and run just because a little personal risk is involved. What did Shakespeare say? "Cowards die a thousand deaths, the brave man... only 500"?
Harold Hill says: A man can't turn tail and run just because a little personal risk is involved. What did Shakespeare say? 'Cowards die a thousand deaths, the brave man... only 500'?
Mayor Shinn says: It's as clear as a buttonhook in the well water!
Mayor Shinn says: You watch your phraseology!
Mrs. Paroo says: When a woman's got a husband, and you've got none, why should she take advice from you? Even if you can quote Balzac and Shakespeare and all them other high-falutin' Greeks.
Mrs. Paroo says: I know all about your standards and if you don't mind my sayin' so there's not a man alive who could hope to measure up to that blend of Paul Bunyan, Saint Pat, and Noah Webster you've concocted for yourself out of your Irish imagination, your Iowa stubbornness, and your li'berry full of books!
Harold Hill says: The sadder but wiser girl for me.
Harold Hill says: Think, boys. THINK! (Harold uses the Think System to teach music)
Harold Hill says: Think, boys. THINK! [Harold uses the Think System to teach music]
Mayor Shinn says: Its fine if you want to go around in your drawers all day (the horrid heat).
Mayor Shinn says: Its fine if you want to go around in your drawers all day. [the horrid heat]
Harold Hill says: I always think there's a band kid.