ROBERT PRESTON - AUTOGRAPHED INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 251916

ROBERT PRESTON
Vintage b/w movie still of Tony-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Robert Preston from 1942's Reap the Wild Wind. Preston shot to fame with his Tony-winning performance as con man Harold Hill in The Music Man.
Inscribed photograph signed "For Robert/All the Best/Robert Preston" in blue ink. Lead pencil notations on verso in unknown hand. B/w, 8x10 overall, 7¼x9 image, one surface. Movie still from 1942's Reap the Wild Wind. Property of National Screen Service Corp. ©1954 Paramount Pictures. No less an authority on acting than Richard Burton called Robert Preston "the best American actor - with a voice like golden thunder". American actor Preston (1918-1987), born Robert Preston Meservey, had already made nearly 40 films from 1938, playing second leads in most, when he became a big star of Broadway musicals. He won Tony awards for his performance as con man Harold Hill in The Music Man (1958), a role he repeated in the hit film four years later, and for I Do! I Do! (1966); he also received a Tony nod for and he was nominated in the same category in 1975 for Mack & Mabel (1975). He also received an Oscar nomination for Victor/Victoria (1982). Modern audiences may know him best from his final movie appearance, as a fast-talking alien con man in The Last Starfighter (1984). In all, Preston appeared in over 70 movies and TV shows between 1938 and 1987. Lightly toned, soiled, cracked, creased and bowed. Signature has poor adhesion and is lightly smeared but is legible. Light scratches (not visible) and scuffs on image. Left and bottom edges are lightly discolored. Lightly soiled on verso (no show-through). Otherwise in fine condition.