Robert Preston

Highest Rated: 100% How the West Was Won (1963)

Lowest Rated: 29% Mame (1974)

Birthday: Jun 8, 1918

Birthplace: Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, USA

A vital, virile, exciting Broadway performer, Preston was once called, "the best American actor -- with a voice like golden thunder," by Richard Burton. He decided to become an actor at age 15. After studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, he became a steady, dependable performer in Hollywood films from the late '30s. Preston became well-known after Cecil B. De Mille cast him as Barbara Stanwyck's gambler husband in Union Pacific (1939). He was almost strictly a second-lead actor for 20 years, finally breaking through to lead roles after becoming a star on Broadway. For his Broadway performance (his first in a musical) as ebullient con-artist Harold Hill in The Music Man he won a Tony Award; he repeated the role in the screen version (1962) and it became the work for which he is best known. Preston went on to earn another Tony Award for his performance in the 1966 musical I Do! I Do!, opposite Mary Martin. Another outstanding performance was as Julie Andrews' gay friend Toddie in Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria (1982), a performance which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

RATING	TITLE	CREDIT	BOX OFFICE	YEAR
No Score Yet	Going Hollywood: The 30s	Actor	—	2006
No Score Yet	Broadway's Lost Treasures	Actor	—	2003
No Score Yet	Outrage!	Dennis Riordan	—	1986
76%	The Last Starfighter	Centauri	—	1984
No Score Yet	Finnegan Begin Again	Mike Finnegan	—	1984
No Score Yet	September Gun	Actor	—	1983
No Score Yet	Rehearsal for Murder	Alex Dennison	—	1982
96%	Victor Victoria	Carole "Toddy" Todd	—	1982
90%	S.O.B.	Dr. Irving Finegarten	$14.9M	1981
No Score Yet	Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg	Mr. Stranger	—	1980
No Score Yet	The Chisholms	Actor	—	1979
88%	Semi-Tough	Big Ed Bookman	—	1977
No Score Yet	My Father's House	Actor	—	1975
29%	Mame	Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside	—	1974
89%	Junior Bonner	Ace Bonner	—	1972
No Score Yet	Child's Play	Joseph Dobbs	—	1972
No Score Yet	All the Way Home	Jay Follett	—	1963
No Score Yet	Island of Love	Steve Blair	—	1963
100%	How the West Was Won	Roger Morgan	—	1963
94%	The Music Man	Prof. Harold Hill	—	1962
No Score Yet	The Dark at the Top of the Stairs	Rubin Flood	—	1960
No Score Yet	The Last Frontier	Col. Frank Marston	—	1955
No Score Yet	Cloudburst	John Graham	—	1951
No Score Yet	My Outlaw Brother	Joe Waldner	—	1951
No Score Yet	Best of the Badmen	Matthew Fowler	—	1951
No Score Yet	The Sundowners	James Cloud ('Kid Wichita')	—	1950
No Score Yet	Tulsa	Brad Brady	—	1949
No Score Yet	The Lady Gambles	David Boothe	—	1949
No Score Yet	Whispering Smith	Murray Sinclair	—	1948
No Score Yet	Blood on the Moon	Tate Riling	—	1948
No Score Yet	Wild Harvest	Jim Davis	—	1947
No Score Yet	The Macomber Affair (The Great White Hunter)	Francis Macomber	—	1947
No Score Yet	Variety Girl	Himself	—	1947
No Score Yet	Wings Up!	Actor	—	1943
No Score Yet	Star Spangled Rhythm	Guest	—	1942
83%	Wake Island	Joe Doyle	—	1942
93%	This Gun for Hire	Det. Michael Crane	—	1942
67%	Reap the Wild Wind	Dan Cutler	—	1942
100%	Beau Geste	Digby Geste	—	1939
No Score Yet	Union Pacific	Dick Allen	—	1939

Quotes from Robert Preston's Characters

Harold Hill:	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:	We got trouble! Right here in River City! With a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for pool!

Centauri:

[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:	It's indecent to meet boys at the footbridge!
Tommy Djilas:	he answers Zaneeta: First thing after supper?
Winthrop Paroo:	she answers Tommy: All right! Ye Gods!
Harold Hill:	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:	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:	No, thank you, AMARYLLITH! (Winthrop had an embarressing lisp)
Winthrop Paroo:	No, thank you, AMARYLLITH! [Winthrop had an embarressing lisp]
Harold Hill:	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:	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:	Mayor Shinn, your honor, your daughter and I have been going steady behind your back.
Tommy Djilas:	Mayor Shinn, your honor, your daughter and I have been going steady behind your back.

Harold Hill:	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:	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:	I heard you was in steam automobiles. (to Harold Hill)
Harold Hill:	answers: I was... till someone actually 'invented' one!
Harold Hill:	"Brooklyn"? Marce, this isn't even Dubuque!
Harold Hill:	'Brooklyn'? Marce, this isn't even Dubuque!

Harold Hill:	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:	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:	It's as clear as a buttonhook in the well water!
Mayor Shinn:	You watch your phraseology!
Mrs. Paroo:	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:	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:	The sadder but wiser girl for me.

Harold Hill:	Think, boys. THINK! (Harold uses the Think System to teach music)
Harold Hill:	Think, boys. THINK! [Harold uses the Think System to teach music]
Mayor Shinn:	Its fine if you want to go around in your drawers all day (the horrid heat).
Mayor Shinn:	Its fine if you want to go around in your drawers all day. [the horrid heat]
Harold Hill:	I always think there's a band kid.

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Robert Preston

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

Quotes from Robert Preston's Characters