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Actor Harve Presnell dies of cancer at 75

NEW YORK—Harve Presnell, whose booming baritone graced such Broadway musicals as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “Annie,” has died at age 75.

The actor died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., said Gregg Klein, Presnell’s agent.

Although he was best known for his roles in musical theater, Presnell also is remembered as William H. Macy’s father-in-law in the Coen brothers’ 1996 film “Fargo.”

Among his other movies were “When the Boys Meet the Girls” (1965), “The Glory Guys” (1965) and “Paint Your Wagon” (1969) as well as the TV series “The Pretender” (1997-2000).

Yet it was in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” (1960) that the rugged, 6-foot-4 Presnell was first noticed by Broadway audiences. In the Meredith Willson musical, he played lucky mining prospector “Leadville” Johnny Brown opposite Tammy Grimes’ feisty Molly. Presnell repeated his role in the 1964 film version that starred Debbie Reynolds as the buoyant title character.

Presnell even played the dashing Rhett Butler in a musical version of “Gone with the Wind” that was seen in London in 1972.

For a good part of his career, Presnell portrayed the wealthy, follicle-challenged Daddy Warbucks in various incarnations of “Annie.”

The actor was born George Harvey Presnell on Sept. 14, 1933, in Modesto, Calif. He went to the University of Southern California on a sports scholarship. After three weeks, the head of the music school heard him sing and offered him the same scholarship for music. He soon quit school and spent three seasons singing in Europe. And it was in Berlin that Willson, the composer of “Molly Brown,” first heard him sing.





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