Mike Preston, the rugged actor who helped bring the brutal wasteland of Mad Max to life, has died at 93.
Preston, best remembered by movie fans as the heroic settler leader Pappagallo in George Miller’s 1981 action classic, died June 8 in Florida, his wife, Josie Preston, confirmed to Variety. No cause of death was disclosed.
For millions of fans, Preston’s face is forever tied to one of the most unforgettable films of the 1980s. In Mad Max 2, released in the United States as The Road Warrior, Preston played the determined leader of a group of survivors trying to protect their precious fuel supply in a violent, post-apocalyptic desert world.
The film starred Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky and became a cult favorite that helped define the look and feel of modern action movies. Preston’s Pappagallo stood out as one of the story’s few figures of order and hope, a man trying to build something decent in a world that had completely fallen apart.
But long before Preston was battling for survival on the big screen, he had already lived several show business lives.
Born Jack Davis in London, Preston first rose to fame as a singer in the late 1950s. He scored three U.K. Top 40 hits before making a major career turn, leaving Britain behind and relocating to Australia. There, he reinvented himself as a television and film actor.
Australian audiences came to know him through shows including Homicide and Bellbird, where his strong presence and old-school leading-man style made him a familiar face on television.
Then came Mad Max 2.
The film turned Preston into a recognizable figure for action fans around the world. While he was not the film’s villain or its main star, his performance as Pappagallo gave the movie one of its most memorable human anchors. In a world of leather-clad marauders, roaring engines and desert warfare, Preston’s character represented the last stubborn stand of civilization.
After The Road Warrior, Preston continued working steadily. His credits included Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn and Hot Pursuit. He also appeared on television series including Alien Nation, Highlander and Law & Order. His final credited role came in 2002, when he worked as a voice actor on the video game The Getaway.
The news of Preston’s death comes after another blow to the Mad Max family. Kjell Nilsson, who played the terrifying Lord Humungus in Mad Max 2, died at 76 in Queensland, Australia, after a four-year battle with kidney disease.
For fans of the legendary franchise, the loss of both actors so close together has made the news especially emotional. Preston and Nilsson played opposing forces in one of the most beloved action films of its era, and both helped make The Road Warrior a movie that still has a devoted following more than four decades later.
Preston is survived by his wife, Josie, and his two daughters.
His career stretched from pop charts to Australian television to one of the most famous wastelands in movie history. But for generations of fans, Mike Preston will always be remembered as Pappagallo — the man who tried to lead his people out of chaos, even when the world around him had gone mad.