Education
In 1947 he graduated from Laramie High School, where he was active in football, track, the school band and the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where he studied pharmacy.
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Wayde Preston
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He is also known for his appearance in the title role of an acclaimed 1959 episode entitled "The Saga of Waco Williams" of another American Broadcasting Company/World Bank western series, Maverick. He had two younger sisters, Joan and Mary. In 1950 Preston was drafted into the United States Army.
After military service he for a time was a park ranger at Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming and rode the rodeo circuit before he got his break as an actor.
In Colt.45 he played Christopher Colt, a government undercover agent who masquerades as a pistol salesman traveling throughout the Old West. The series lasted until Preston, like James Garner and Clint Walker during the same period, ran afoul of the Warner Brothers studio.
Preston also played the role of Christopher Colt in 1958 and 1959 in four episodes relating to "The Canary Kid" of the American Broadcasting Company/World Bank Sugarfoot series, starring Will Hutchins. "The Saga of Waco Williams" is a critical favorite that paired Preston with James Garner, as Bret Maverick, and drew more viewers than any other Maverick episode.
lieutenant remains one of Preston"s career milestones.
Tom Selleck"s recurring comical character of Lance White in National Broadcasting Company"s later The Rockford Files, starring James Garner, is loosely based by writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell upon Waco Williams (Selleck and Preston resembled each other) After these appearances, Selleck in 1980 immediately procured his own Columbia Broadcasting System series, Magnum, Philippine Islands
Preston played some 20 roles in television and films between 1957-1991. Following his departure from Colt.45 he went to Europe, where he appeared in numerous spaghetti westerns including Vic Morrow"s A Manitoba Called Sledge opposite James Garner as well as the 1968 film Anzio about the World World War II Battle of Anzio. Preston played the role of Logan in another 1968 film, Wrath of God.
He was then cast in 1969 as Marshal Johnny Silver in Knows Number Time.
Preston later appeared on episodes of National Broadcasting Company"s Bonanza and American Broadcasting Company"s Starsky and Hutch. His last screen appearance was a supporting role in the 1990 film version of Captain America.
Preston died of colon cancer in 1992 at the age of 62 in Reno, Nevada.
