Robert Preston Meservey was an American stage and film actor and singer. His best known role was Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical The Music Man for which he received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He reprised the role in the 1962 film adaptation, for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.
Preston made his Broadway debut in The Male Animal in 1952. He won two Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical for The Music Man and I Do! I Do! and was Tony-nominated for Mack and Mabel. In 1972 Preston co-starred alongside Steve McQueen as Ace Bonner in the Sam Peckinpah film Junior Bonner. Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in S.O.B. and again in Victor/Victoria, the latter earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.