Robert Preston

Robert Preston

Robert Preston (June 8, 1918 – March 21, 1987) was an American stage and film actor and singer, best known for his collaboration with composer Meredith Willson and originating the role of Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical The Music Man and the 1962 film adaptation; the film earned him his first of two Golden Globe Award nominations. Preston collaborated twice with filmmaker Blake Edwards, first in S.O.B. (1981) and again in Victor/Victoria (1982). For portraying Carroll "Toddy" Todd in the latter, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 55th Academy Awards. Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a garment worker and a record store clerk. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School, training as a musician and playing several instruments, but quit at age sixteen to study acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. Preston made his Broadway debut in 1940 in the play The Philadelphia Story. He went on to star in a number of successful Broadway musicals, including The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), and I Do! I Do! (1966). He also appeared in a number of films, including The Music Man (1962), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), and Victor/Victoria (1982). Preston was a versatile actor who could play a wide range of roles. He was known for his charisma, his singing voice, and his comic timing. He was a two-time Tony Award winner and was nominated for an Academy Award. He was also a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Preston died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 68. He was survived by his wife, Catherine Craig; the couple had no children. A biography of the actor, @Robert Preston - Forever The Music Man”, was published in 2022.

  • Title: Robert Preston
  • Popularity: 8.323
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1918-06-08
  • Place of Birth: Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, USA
  • Homepage: https://foreverthemusicman.com
  • Also Known As: Robert Preston Meservey
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Robert Preston Movies

  • 1955
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    The Last Frontier

    The Last Frontier

    6 1955 HD

    Three trappers become scouts for a cavalry captain who loses his fort to a hated colonel.

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  • 1977
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    Semi-Tough

    Semi-Tough

    5.6 1977 HD

    A three-way friendship between two free-spirited professional football players and the owner's daughter becomes compromised when two of them become...

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  • 1972
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    Junior Bonner

    Junior Bonner

    6 1972 HD

    With his bronco-busting career on its last legs, Junior Bonner heads to his hometown to try his luck in the annual rodeo. But his fond childhood...

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  • 1951
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    My Outlaw Brother

    My Outlaw Brother

    5.5 1951 HD

    Danny, a greenhorn from New York comes to the Mexican border in search for his older brother whom he has always looked up to. A Texas Ranger charged...

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  • 1984
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    The Last Starfighter

    The Last Starfighter

    6.606 1984 HD

    Video game expert Alex Rogan finds himself transported to another planet after conquering the video game The Last Starfighter, only to find out it...

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  • 1962
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    How the West Was Won

    How the West Was Won

    6.982 1962 HD

    The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the end of the century, as seen through the eyes of one...

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  • 1982
    imgMovies

    Victor/Victoria

    Victor/Victoria

    7.252 1982 HD

    A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life.

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  • 1981
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    S.O.B.

    S.O.B.

    5.907 1981 HD

    A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an erotic production, where its family-friendly star takes...

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  • 1947
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    The Macomber Affair

    The Macomber Affair

    6.2 1947 HD

    A big-game hunter takes a rich American couple on an African safari. Film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber".

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  • 1962
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    The Music Man

    The Music Man

    7.1 1962 HD

    A con man comes to an Iowa town with a scam using a boy's marching band program, but things don't go according to plan.

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  • 1974
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    Mame

    Mame

    6 1974 HD

    The madcap life of eccentric Mame Dennis and her bohemian, intellectual arty clique is disrupted when her deceased brother's 10-year-old son Patrick...

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  • 1949
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    The Lady Gambles

    The Lady Gambles

    6 1949 HD

    When Joan Boothe accompanies husband-reporter David to Las Vegas, she begins gambling to pass the time while he is doing a story. Encouraged by the...

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  • 1948
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    Blood on the Moon

    Blood on the Moon

    6.1 1948 HD

    Down-and-out cowhand Jim Garry is asked by his old friend Tate Riling to help mediate a cattle dispute. When Garry arrives, however, it soon becomes...

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  • 1939
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    Beau Geste

    Beau Geste

    6.948 1939 HD

    When three brothers join the Foreign Legion to escape a troubled past, they find themselves trapped under the command of a sadistic sergeant deep in...

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  • 1951
    imgMovies

    Cloudburst

    Cloudburst

    6.3 1951 HD

    Canadian World War II veteran John Graham works in London as a code breaker. Tragedy strikes when his pregnant wife, Carol, is accidentally run over...

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  • 1948
    imgMovies

    Whispering Smith

    Whispering Smith

    6.5 1948 HD

    Smith is an iron-willed railroad detective. When his friend Murray is fired from the railroad and begins helping Rebstock wreck trains, Smith must go...

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  • 1950
    imgMovies

    The Sundowners

    The Sundowners

    5.4 1950 HD

    Brother is pitted against brother in this tale of fueding ranchers in the old west.

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  • 1942
    imgMovies

    Wake Island

    Wake Island

    5.6 1942 HD

    In late 1941, with no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines tries to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island...

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  • 1939
    imgMovies

    Union Pacific

    Union Pacific

    6.507 1939 HD

    One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial...

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  • 1942
    imgMovies

    Reap the Wild Wind

    Reap the Wild Wind

    6.4 1942 HD

    The Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful...

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  • 1942
    imgMovies

    This Gun for Hire

    This Gun for Hire

    6.9 1942 HD

    Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss,...

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  • 1982
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    Rehearsal for Murder

    Rehearsal for Murder

    6.4 1982 HD

    A year after his fiancée's death, a playwright schedules a rehearsal for his new play, which proves to be a trap for her killer.

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  • 1980
    imgMovies

    The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

    The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

    1 1980 HD

    A mysterious stranger descends on the small town of Hadleyburg to teach its deceitful residents a lesson

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  • 1972
    imgMovies

    Child's Play

    Child's Play

    6.1 1972 HD

    At an exclusive boys' school, a new gym teacher is drawn into a feud between two older instructors, and he discovers that everything at the school is...

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  • 1940
    imgMovies

    North West Mounted Police

    North West Mounted Police

    6.3 1940 HD

    Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques...

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  • 1941
    imgMovies

    The Night of January 16th

    The Night of January 16th

    5 1941 HD

    Accused of killing her employer, financier Bjorn Faulkner, Kit is championed by wisecracking sailor-on-leave Steve Van Ruyle, who has a vested...

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  • 1941
    imgMovies

    New York Town

    New York Town

    10 1941 HD

    Victor Ballard, a happy-go-lucky albeit impoverished sidewalk photographer, shares a New York City studio apartment with Polish immigrant painter...

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  • 1938
    imgMovies

    King of Alcatraz

    King of Alcatraz

    5.7 1938 HD

    A convict who has just escaped from Alcatraz Prison takes over a passenger ship. Two of the ship's crew hatch a plot to overpower him and rescue the...

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  • 1949
    imgMovies

    Tulsa

    Tulsa

    6.275 1949 HD

    It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company. Cherokee...

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  • 1942
    imgMovies

    Star Spangled Rhythm

    Star Spangled Rhythm

    5.9 1942 HD

    Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his son arrives in Hollywood on shore leave with his...

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  • 1963
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    All the Way Home

    All the Way Home

    6.5 1963 HD

    In the early 1900's Tennessee, a loving family undergoes the shock of the father's sudden, accidental death. The widow and her young son must endure...

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  • 1963
    imgMovies

    Island of Love

    Island of Love

    5.3 1963 HD

    Con artist Steve Blair persuades Tony Dallas, a Manhattan gangster, to finance a movie about Adam and Eve by offering the female lead to Tony's...

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  • 1951
    imgMovies

    Best of the Badmen

    Best of the Badmen

    6.8 1951 HD

    After the North defeats the South, Union Maj. Jeff Clanton heads to Missouri to provide the Confederacy's Quantrill's Raiders a chance to claim...

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  • 1947
    imgMovies

    Variety Girl

    Variety Girl

    6.1 1947 HD

    Dozens of star and character-actor cameos and a message about the Variety Club (a show-business charity) are woven into a framework about two hopeful...

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  • 1960
    imgMovies

    The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

    The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

    6.7 1960 HD

    In Oklahoma in the 1920s, Rubin Flood loses his job as a traveling salesman when the company goes bankrupt. This adds to his worries at home. His...

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  • 1941
    imgMovies

    The Lady from Cheyenne

    The Lady from Cheyenne

    5.2 1941 HD

    Fictionalized story of the 1869 adoption of women's suffrage in Wyoming Territory. In the new-founded railroad town of Laraville, Boss Jim Cork hopes...

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  • 1940
    imgMovies

    Typhoon

    Typhoon

    5 1940 HD

    Two men searching for black pearls are marooned on an island when their crew mutinies. There they run into a beautiful girl who had been washed up on...

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  • 1941
    imgMovies

    Parachute Battalion

    Parachute Battalion

    5.5 1941 HD

    Director Leslie Goodwins' 1941 military drama, about various men who become buddies when they join the paratroopers, stars Robert Preston, Edmond...

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  • 1986
    imgMovies

    Outrage!

    Outrage!

    5 1986 HD

    After a technicality results in the release of a man being tried for the rape and murder of a young woman, her father murders the man. Admitting his...

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  • 1948
    imgMovies

    Big City

    Big City

    7.2 1948 HD

    A young orphan in New York's Lower East Side is collectively adopted by three neighborhood men--a minister, a cantor, and a cop.

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  • 1952
    imgMovies

    Face to Face

    Face to Face

    5.7 1952 HD

    Two short films released together under a collective title. The first, "Secret Sharer", directed by John Brahm and starring James Mason, is based on...

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  • 1939
    imgMovies

    Disbarred

    Disbarred

    6 1939 HD

    The Bar Association disbars attorney Tyler Cradon when it appears he was implicated in the murder of a prominent vice crusader. Cradon, not wishing...

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  • 1940
    imgMovies

    Moon Over Burma

    Moon Over Burma

    5 1940 HD

    The managers of a teak lumber camp in Burma compete for the affections of a beautiful American entertainer who gets stranded in Rangoon.

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  • 1941
    imgMovies

    Pacific Blackout

    Pacific Blackout

    6.3 1941 HD

    Falsely convicted of murder, young Robert Draper escapes custody during a practice blackout drill. Under cover of darkness, Draper hopes to find the...

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  • 2020
    imgMovies

    Disclosure

    Disclosure

    7.9 2020 HD

    An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people...

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  • 1938
    imgMovies

    Illegal Traffic

    Illegal Traffic

    6.7 1938 HD

    G-Man Charles Bent Martin is sent out to break up a nationwide racket. A transport company is aiding fugitives making a getaway in exchange for the...

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  • 1985
    imgMovies

    Night of 100 Stars II

    Night of 100 Stars II

    8 1985 HD

    This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a seven-hour live entertainment marathon that was...

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  • 1947
    imgMovies

    Wild Harvest

    Wild Harvest

    1 1947 HD

    Joe is the head of an itinerant combine crew, working the harvests against rival crew boss Alperson. Joe's buddy Jim joins the crew with startup...

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  • 1983
    imgMovies

    September Gun

    September Gun

    7.2 1983 HD

    Ben Sunday, a long-in-tooth gunfighter forms an uneasy alliance with a Catholic nun. The single-minded sister wants to erect a sanctuary for a group...

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  • 1985
    imgMovies

    Finnegan Begin Again

    Finnegan Begin Again

    6.3 1985 HD

    A schoolteacher in her early 40s, involved in a dead-end love affair with a married mortician, drifts into a relationship with an aging newspaperman.

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  • 1951
    imgMovies

    When I Grow Up

    When I Grow Up

    6 1951 HD

    Josh is a young boy who feels neglected and misunderstood at home. Preparing to run away, he chances across an old diary once kept by his...

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  • 1943
    imgMovies

    Night Plane from Chungking

    Night Plane from Chungking

    6 1943 HD

    Without lights and in a driving rain, a bus is lumbering along the muddy Assam Road en route from Chunking to the Indian border. Passengers include a...

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  • 2003
    imgMovies

    Broadway's Lost Treasures

    Broadway's Lost Treasures

    5.6 2003 HD

    The golden age of the annual Tony Awards ceremony lasted from 1967 to 1986 — the period during which Alexander H. Cohen and his wife, Hildy...

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  • 1975
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    My Father's House

    My Father's House

    1 1975 HD

    Recovering from a heart attack, a workaholic editor recalls the simple days of his youth. Robertson adds an emotional center to this messy,...

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  • 1943
    imgMovies

    Wings Up

    Wings Up

    5.2 1943 HD

    Clark Gable stars in this propaganda short about the Officers Candidate School of the Army Air Forces.

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  • 2015
    imgMovies

    Chita Rivera: A Lot Of Livin' To Do

    Chita Rivera: A Lot Of Livin' To Do

    1 2015 HD

    A retrospective of Chita Rivera's film, television and stage career, including interviews with Dick Van Dyke, Ben Vereen, Carol Lawrence and others....

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  • 1956
    imgMovies

    Sentinels in the Air

    Sentinels in the Air

    1 1956 HD

    This short shows the important role played by members of the U.S. Air Force Reserve in the USA's defense against enemy attack.

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  • 2004
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    Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade

    Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade

    7.3 2004 HD

    An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the...

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  • 1984
    imgMovies

    Going Hollywood: The '30s

    Going Hollywood: The '30s

    10 1984 HD

    Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually...

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  • 1982
    imgMovies

    Night of 100 Stars

    Night of 100 Stars

    6.5 1982 HD

    The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City...

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  • 1962
    imgS5 E257

    The Merv Griffin Show

    The Merv Griffin Show

    5.571 1962 HD

    The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC,...

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  • 1953
    imgS10 E34

    General Electric Theater

    General Electric Theater

    6 1953 HD

    General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was...

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  • 1950
    imgS7 E52

    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1951
    imgS2 E33

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    7 1951 HD

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was...

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  • 1950
    imgS5 E24

    Your Show of Shows

    Your Show of Shows

    5.5 1950 HD

    Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC, from February 25, 1950, until June 5,...

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  • 1954
    imgS4 E37

    Climax!

    Climax!

    3 1954 HD

    Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary...

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  • 1955
    imgS2 E19

    The 20th Century Fox Hour

    The 20th Century Fox Hour

    4.8 1955 HD

    The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this...

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  • 1950
    imgS8 E39

    Robert Montgomery Presents

    Robert Montgomery Presents

    5.6 1950 HD

    Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live...

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  • 1979
    imgS2 E9

    The Chisholms

    The Chisholms

    6.2 1979 HD

    The Chisholms is a CBS western miniseries starring Robert Preston, which aired from March 29, 1979, to April 19, 1979; and continued as a television...

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  • 1956
    imgS61 E2

    Tony Awards

    Tony Awards

    5 1956 HD

    The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The...

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  • 1950
    imgS7 E52

    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1950
    imgS7 E52

    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1950
    imgS7 E52

    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1950
    imgS7 E52

    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1950
    imgS7 E52

    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1950
    imgS8 E39

    Robert Montgomery Presents

    Robert Montgomery Presents

    5.6 1950 HD

    Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live...

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  • 1950
    imgS1 E876

    What's My Line?

    What's My Line?

    6.727 1950 HD

    Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or...

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  • 1954
    imgS4 E37

    Climax!

    Climax!

    3 1954 HD

    Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary...

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  • 1954
    imgS4 E37

    Climax!

    Climax!

    3 1954 HD

    Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary...

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  • 1956
    imgS61 E2

    Tony Awards

    Tony Awards

    5 1956 HD

    The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The...

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  • 1956
    imgS61 E2

    Tony Awards

    Tony Awards

    5 1956 HD

    The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The...

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  • 1956
    imgS61 E2

    Tony Awards

    Tony Awards

    5 1956 HD

    The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The...

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  • 1956
    imgS61 E2

    Tony Awards

    Tony Awards

    5 1956 HD

    The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The...

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  • 1959
    imgS10 E13

    The Bell Telephone Hour

    The Bell Telephone Hour

    7 1959 HD

    “The Bell Telephone Hour” was a musical variety show that aired on “NBC” TV from 12 January 1959 to 14 June 1968 that...

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  • 1950
    imgS1 E876

    What's My Line?

    What's My Line?

    6.727 1950 HD

    Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or...

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