Modesto native Harve Presnell, a stage and screen actor whose booming baritone
graced such Broadway musicals as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and "Annie," died
Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 75.

Presnell's agent Gregg Klein said the actor, also well-known for his role as
William H. Macy's father-in-law in the hit movie "Fargo," died at St. John's
Health Center in Santa Monica.

On Broadway, the Modesto High Class of 1950 graduate played Johnny "Leadville"
Brown in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" in the early '60s and Daddy Warbucks in
"Annie" in the early '80s. In the 1964 film version of "Molly Brown," Presnell
played opposite Debbie Reynolds, who had the title role.

According to the Internet Movie Database, he was a 1965 Golden Globe winner --
along with George Segal and Topol – for most promising male newcomer.

In 1969, Presnell co-starred with Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in the film
musical "Paint Your Wagon." As Rotten Luck Willie, Presnell's songs included the
beautiful "They Call the Wind Mariah."

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 which starred
Debbie Reynolds as the buoyant title character.

Presnell even played the dashing Rhett Butler in a musical version of "Gone with
the Wind" (adapted by Horton Foote and with a score by Harold Rome) 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 first offered the role in a tour of "Annie" and thought the title was a show
business abbreviation for "Annie, Get Your Gun," the musical in which he had
once played sharpshooter Frank Butler.

Then he attended "Annie" and saw a bald, older man instead of a dashing,
romantic lead.

It was a big shock, he told The Associated Press in an interview in 1993: "I
thought, `What's this? I'm a leading man!'"

But the reality was good for him, Presnell said, adding: "It was a question of
saying, `I'm no longer Frank Butler or Rhett Butler or 'Leadville' Johnny Brown.
And they were paying good money."

After Presnell did the two-year "Annie" tour (1979-81) he went into "Annie" on
Broadway and was still Daddy Warbucks on closing night, Jan. 2, 1983, in New
York. In 1990, he played Warbucks in "Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge," the
ill-fated sequel to "Annie" that folded during its Washington tryout and never
got to New York.

Another version, titled "Annie Warbucks," surfaced off-Broadway in 1993 for a
four-month run with Presnell again portraying Annie's wealthy benefactor.

The actor was born George Harvey Presnell on Sept. 14, 1933, in Modesto. 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.

Source (w/pic from Fargo):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DeadCelebrityAlert/post