Michael Preece died at 88 – American film director
Biography and cause of death of Michael Preece
Among Michael Preece’s many accomplishments as an American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and actor are the Dallas and Walker, Texas Ranger television shows, as well as the films The Prize Fighter and Logan’s War: Bound by Honor. He was born on September 15, 1936, and passed away on February 27, 2025.
Michael Preece Earlier years
Alexander Hamilton High School is where Preece earned his diploma. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. His dad worked as a cigarette and cigar salesman, while his mom, Thelma Preece, was historic as Hollywood’s first female business agent and the brains behind the Script Clerks Guild, which evolved into Script Supervisor Local 871 IATSE.
Michael Preece Career
In the summer of 1955, when television was just starting off, Preece worked as a script supervisor while he was a freshman at Santa Monica City College. Among his many film and television credits are: The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), The Spirit of St. Louis (1957),
The Old Man and the Sea (1958), Cimarron (1962), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), Morituri (1965), Will Penny (1968), True Grit (1969), The Hawaiians (1970), The Getaway (1972), The Paper Chase (1973), and Breakheart Pass (1975). Preece began directing television shows in 1975 and went on to direct 300 episodes. One of them was Dallas, in which he broke the record for most episodes directed and had every cast member shoot a gun to make sure no one knew who shot J.R.
Michael Preece has directed episodes of several shows, including Walker, Texas Ranger, The Streets of San Francisco, Knots Landing, 7th Heaven, Falcon Crest, Barnaby Jones, The Bionic Woman, T.J. Hooker, MacGyver, When the Whistle Blows, Baywatch, Hunter, Fantasy Island, The Incredible Hulk, Trapper John, M.D., Stingray, B. J. and the Bear, Ace Crawford, Private Eye, Mike Hammer (1984 TV Series), Jake and the Fatman, The Young Riders, Flamingo Road, and Renegade.
Among Preece’s filmography are the following: Great Day (1983), Logan’s War: Bound by Honor (1998), Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998), The President’s Man (2000), and The Prize Fighter (1979), which was one of New World Pictures’ most financially successful releases of all time. He also directed Walker Texas Ranger 3: Deadly Reunion (1994).
Michael Preece: Death and one’s own life
It was at Hamilton that Preece met Paula, his first wife. The couple married in 1953 and were divorced in 1968. Four children were born to them. Randy Newman is a musician, and his daughter Gretchen is married to him. After that, from 1969 until her death in 2017, he was married to Hollywood hairdresser Evelyn Preece (née Thomas; 1942-2017). He gave talks at breakfast gatherings for women in film.
At the age of 88 years old, Preece passed away on February 27, 2025, in his Brentwood residence in Los Angeles, due to heart failure.