J.A. Preston

Acting

J.A. Preston

Born 1932-11-13 · Washington, District of Columbia, USA

James Allen Preston Sr. (born November 13, 1932) is an American actor. Preston is best known for his role as Ozzie Cleveland on the NBC primetime television series Hill Street Blues which originally aired from 1981 until 1987. Preston was born November 13 (1932) in Washington, D.C. In addition to his role on Hill Street Blues, Preston is also known for his roles as Leo Daltry in Dallas, Richard Matthews in Santa Barbara, court-martial judge Col. J. A. Randolph, USMC in the 1992 film A Few Good Men, and the minor but important role of a USAF Major General in Air Force One (1997). He was a series regular in the short-lived CBS sitcom All's Fair which ran just one season (1976-77). In it he played an assistant to conservative newspaper columnist Richard Barrington (played by Richard Crenna). Preston also appeared on the NBC television series The A-Team as a judge (Col. Thomas Milo) presiding over a military tribunal convened to try the A-Team. He also appeared in 3 episodes of Martin as Gina’s (Tisha Campbell-Martin) father Dr. Cliff Waters.

Acting credits

Contact poster
7.4

A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.

Contact

1997

A Few Good Men poster
7.6

When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.

A Few Good Men

1992

Body Heat poster
7.0

During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.

Body Heat

1981

Silver Streak poster
6.7

A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him.

Silver Streak

1976

Captain Ron poster
5.6

When mild-mannered Martin Harvey finds out that he has inherited a vintage yacht, he decides to take his family on a Caribbean vacation to retrieve the vessel. Upon arriving on a small island and realizing that the ship is in rough shape, Martin and his family end up with more than they bargained for as the roguish Captain Ron signs on to sail the boat to Miami. It doesn't take long before Ron's anything-goes antics get the Harveys into plenty of trouble.

Captain Ron

1992

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins poster
6.3

Tough Brooklyn street cop Sam Makin is unwillingly recruited as an assassin for a secret United States organization known as CURE, who fake his death and give him a new identity: Remo Williams. With his appearance surgically altered, Williams is trained to be a human killing machine by his aged, derisive and impassive Korean martial arts master Chiun.

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins

1985

Fire Birds poster
5.0

A joint task force operation between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Army has been formed to dismantle one of the largest drug cartels operating in South America. Multiple attempts to assault the cartel's mountainous compound have been thwarted by a Scorpion-attack helicopter piloted by a cartel leader, Eric Stoller (Bert Rhine). After having several aircraft shot down, most notably a pair of UH–60 Black Hawks and their AH–1 Cobra escorts, the army turns to the new AH–64 Apache attack helicopter, which can match its enemies' maneuverability and firepower.

Fire Birds

1990

Narrow Margin poster
6.4

An L.A. District Attorney attempts to take an unwilling murder witness back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to discover that the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurls through the beautiful but isolated Canadian wilderness, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues in which their ability to tell friend from foe is a matter of life and death.

Narrow Margin

1990

Two-Minute Warning poster
6.3

A psychotic sniper plans a massive killing spree in a Los Angeles football stadium during a major championship game. The police, led by Captain Peter Holly and the SWAT commander, learn of the plot and rush to the scene.

Two-Minute Warning

1976

Aftermath: A Test of Love poster
5.9

Based on a true story, an adoring wife and mother is taken hostage during a robbery and brutally murdered.

Aftermath: A Test of Love

1991

Real Life poster
6.6

A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".

Real Life

1979

Americathon poster
3.6

In a story told in narrative flashbacks, a young TV consultant is hired by the President of a bankrupt USA to organize a telethon in order to prevent the country from being repossessed by wealthy Native Americans.

Americathon

1979

The George McKenna Story poster
6.3

Washington plays a school principal in a tough inner city Los Angeles high school out to rid it of drugs, gangs, low moral of teachers, and restore educational values. Based on a true story.

The George McKenna Story

1988

Harvest of Fire poster
5.8

In a small Amish community, three barns are burnt down almost simultaneously. FBI agent Sally Russwell is sent in to investigate this possible hate crime. What she finds however is a community that little trust for outsiders or "The English" as they call them. However, in her investigations, Agent Russell makes friends with one entrepreneurial widow, Annie Beiler who has her own curiosity about this stranger. Together, Annie introduces Russell in-depth to this close knit community bearing many appealing attributes. However, as Sally's investigations continue, she discovers secrets that reveal uncomfortable truths about the religious community that are linked to the arson attacks.

Harvest of Fire

1996

High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane poster
4.7

Former Marshal Will Kane and his Amish bride, Amy, return to Hadleyville a year after he resigned and find the town in the grip of a bounty-hunting marshal and his two trigger-happy deputies.

High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane

1980

The Plutonium Incident poster
6.5

A plutonium plant employee becomes the target of management, as well as union harassment, when she tries to blow the whistle on the company for negligent safety procedures, and she soon finds her life in peril.

The Plutonium Incident

1980

The Spook Who Sat by the Door poster
6.4

A black man plays Uncle Tom in order to gain access to CIA training, then uses that knowledge to plot a new American Revolution.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door

1973

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle poster
7.5

A former associate of Perry Mason returns to handle the defense of a world-class chess player accused of murdering a prominent TV personality.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle

1994

MacShayne: Winner Takes All poster
5.0

MacShayne is a gambler and small time con-man. After serving a short stretch in jail, he goes to Las Vegas to see his son, but when he gets there, his ex-wife is no longer where she use to live and work and left no forwarding address. Leggett, a recently retired cop, approaches him and tells him that he will help him find his son, if he does something for him. It seems that he is planning to rob a hotel casino and he needs three guys to pull it off. Now two of the guys he recruited has agreed to it but the third is uncertain, so he sets up a poker game wherein MacShayne is suppose to clean him out thus giving Leggett some leverage on him. After doing that he discovers that Leggett is duplicitous and is going stab everybody in the back. So he decides to turn the tables on him.

MacShayne: Winner Takes All

1994

No artwork available
8.0

A racially diverse acting troupe takes their stage play on the road, one which they hope will encourage voter registration. Under escalating internal tensions, the actors split into race groups and abandon the show.

Mississippi Summer

1971

The White Lions poster
10.0

A college professor, his wife, and daughter go the the wilds of Africa to live, and study the rare white lions of the region.

The White Lions

1981

The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson poster
7.2

A film about the early life of the baseball star in the army, particulary his court-martial for insubordination regarding segragation.

The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson

1990

No artwork available
NR

Black Cop is a film documentary that shows the lives of individuals who are caught inexorably in intense community pressures that arise because they are policemen, and become magnified because they are black.

Black Cop

Steel Justice poster
4.2

David Nash has lost his son and his will to live. But the boy appears in his dreams, as well as his Robosaurus toy ! A mythical figure will help Nash to turn the Robosaurus into a real creature in order to avenge his son's death.

Steel Justice

1992