J.A. Preston

Acting

J.A. Preston

Born

1932-11-13 (93)

Place of birth

Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

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 pl…

Known for

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

Dallas poster
6.9

The world's first mega-soap, and one of the most popular ever produced, Dallas had it all. Beautiful women, expensive cars, and men playing Monopoly with real buildings. Famous for one of the best cliffhangers in TV history, as the world asked "Who shot J.R.?" A slow-burner to begin with, Dallas hit its stride in the 2nd season, with long storylines and expert character development. Dallas ruled the airwaves in the 1980's.

Dallas

1978

Chicago Hope poster
7.2

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Chicago Hope

1994

The A-Team poster
7.5

A fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel work as soldiers of fortune while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit."

The A-Team

1983

Hill Street Blues poster
7.6

A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.

Hill Street Blues

1981

Quincy, M.E. poster
7.5

Los Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations.

Quincy, M.E.

1976

Film credits

1990s · 12 titles

Contact poster
7.5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Gifted poster
5.5

Psychic descendents of an African tribe reunite to save Earth. 5000 years ago certain members of the Dogon tribe in West Africa were granted psychic powers by good aliens to counterbalance the effects of Ogo, a bad alien intent on taking over Earth and killing all life to remake the planet for his own purposes. Descendents of the tribe who inherit the psychic powers are given an ancient book to read and pass on. Every 32 years, in connection with the orbiting of the star Sirius B, Ogo returns to kill a few more of the psychics in his ongoing bid for power.

The Gifted

1993

1980s · 7 titles

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

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

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

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 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

Desperate poster
9.0

In this thinly-veiled, though uncredited, new version of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not," here a prospective series pilot, an ex-sailor living in Key West, chartering out boats and struggling to forget his past, is lured into a dangerous rendezvous with Cuban gunrunners.

Desperate

1987

1970s · 6 titles

Series credits

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

Dallas poster
6.9

The world's first mega-soap, and one of the most popular ever produced, Dallas had it all. Beautiful women, expensive cars, and men playing Monopoly with real buildings. Famous for one of the best cliffhangers in TV history, as the world asked "Who shot J.R.?" A slow-burner to begin with, Dallas hit its stride in the 2nd season, with long storylines and expert character development. Dallas ruled the airwaves in the 1980's.

Dallas

1978

Chicago Hope poster
7.2

Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Chicago Hope

1994

The A-Team poster
7.5

A fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel work as soldiers of fortune while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit."

The A-Team

1983

Hill Street Blues poster
7.6

A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.

Hill Street Blues

1981

Hill Street Blues poster
7.6

A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.

Hill Street Blues

1981

Quincy, M.E. poster
7.5

Los Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations.

Quincy, M.E.

1976

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman poster
6.9

A much more lavish version of the popular Superman television series which had first aired forty years earlier, Lois & Clark focused more on the Man of Steel's early adult years in Metropolis. With the unknowing help of Lois Lane, Clark Kent created Superman there in Metropolis after finding work at the world-famous Daily Planet newspaper, where he meets fellow reporter Lois Lane.

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

1993

21 Jump Street poster
7.3

21 Jump Street revolves around a group of young cops who would use their youthful appearance to go undercover and solve crimes involving teenagers and young adults.

21 Jump Street

1987

Touched by an Angel poster
7.2

Monica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives.

Touched by an Angel

1994

Simon & Simon poster
6.7

A.J. Simon is a polished fellow with a taste for classic cars and tailored suits. Rick Simon is his less refined (but still pleasant) older brother who has a taste for cowboy boots and four-wheel drive pickups. The two of them live in San Diego, where they own a private detective agency.

Simon & Simon

1981

Hart to Hart poster
6.9

Wealthy couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a self-made millionaire and his journalist wife, moonlight as amateur detectives.

Hart to Hart

1979

T. J. Hooker poster
6.5

Sergeant Thomas Jefferson Hooker is a tough-as-nails veteran police officer with the LCPD who turns his back on a gold badge and goes back to patrolling the streets and training recruits. Along with his young partners in blue, Hooker take on Lake City's toughest criminals.

T. J. Hooker

1982

seaQuest DSV poster
7.1

In the early 21st century, mankind has colonized the oceans. The United Earth Oceans Organization enlists Captain Nathan Bridger and the submarine seaQuest DSV to keep the peace and explore the last frontier on Earth.

seaQuest DSV

1993

All in the Family poster
7.8

Archie Bunker, a working class bigot, constantly squabbles with his family over the important issues of the day.

All in the Family

1971

The Sentinel poster
7.2

The Sentinel is a Canadian-produced television series. In the jungles of peru, the fight for survival heightened his senses. Now, Detective Jim Ellison is a sentinel in the fight for justice. Anthropologist Blair Sandburg works side by side with Jim, helping him develop these senses.

The Sentinel

1996

Moonlighting poster
7.5

After being duped and going bankrupt, model Maddie is convinced by David to become a partner in a detective agency. Together they solve various cases, while getting comfortable with each other.

Moonlighting

1985

Tales from the Crypt poster
8.0

Cadaverous scream legend the Crypt Keeper is your macabre host for these forays of fright and fun based on the classic E.C. Comics tales from back in the day. So shamble up to the bar and pick your poison. Will it be an insane Santa on a personal slay ride? Honeymooners out to fulfill the "til death do we part" vow ASAP?

Tales from the Crypt

1989

The Jeffersons poster
7.3

Sitcom following a successful African-American couple, George and Louise “Weezyö Jefferson as they “move on up” from working-class Queens to a ritzy Manhattan apartment. A spin-off of All in the Family.

The Jeffersons

1975

Jake and the Fatman poster
6.2

Jake and the Fatman is a television crime drama starring William Conrad as prosecutor J. L. "Fatman" McCabe and Joe Penny as investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on CBS for five seasons from 1987 to 1992. Diagnosis: Murder was a spin-off of this series.

Jake and the Fatman

1987

Martin poster
7.5

Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole.

Martin

1992

Amazing Stories poster
7.5

A truly amazing, fantastical, science fiction, funny and odd, and sometimes scary, sad and endearing anthology series presented by Steven Spielberg with guest appearances by many famous actors, actresses, and directors.

Amazing Stories

1985

Punky Brewster poster
7.2

An abandoned waif and her dog are taken in by a cranky apartment manager who becomes her guardian in this family-friendly sitcom.

Punky Brewster

1984

Good Times poster
8.0

Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer. Good Times is a spin-off of Maude, which is itself a spin-off of All in the Family along with The Jeffersons. The series is set in Chicago. The first two seasons were taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood. In the fall of 1975, the show moved to Metromedia Square, where Norman Lear's own production company was housed.

Good Times

1974

Hardcastle and McCormick poster
6.5

Hardcastle and McCormick is an American action/drama television series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, shown on ABC from 1983 through 1986. The series stars Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and Daniel Hugh Kelly as ex-con and race car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick. The series premise was somewhat recycled from a previous Cannell series, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe.

Hardcastle and McCormick

1983

Wonder Woman poster
7.0

With the strength of Hercules, the wisdom of Athena, the speed of Mercury and the beauty of Aphrodite, she’s Wonder Woman. Beautiful Amazon princess Wonder Woman travels to 1940s America disguised as Diana Prince, assistant to handsome but trouble-prone Major Steve Trevor. Using her golden belt, which imbues her with astonishing strength, her bullet-deflecting bracelets, a golden lasso that dispels dishonesty and an invisible supersonic plane, Wonder Woman combats evil.

Wonder Woman

1975

Gimme a Break! poster
6.6

Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC for six seasons, October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief and his three daughters.

Gimme a Break!

1981

Roots: The Next Generations poster
7.5

Roots: The Next Generations is a television miniseries, introduced in 1979, continuing, from 1882 to the 1960s, the fictionalized story of the family of Alex Haley and their life in Henning, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, USA. This sequel to the 1977 miniseries is based on the last seven chapters of Haley's novel entitled Roots: The Saga of an American Family plus additional material by Haley. Roots: The Next Generations was produced with a budget of $16.6 million, nearly three times as large as that of the original.

Roots: The Next Generations

1979

James at 16 poster
6.8

James at 15 (later James at 16) is an American drama series that aired on NBC during the 1977–1978 season. Protagonist James Hunter is the son of a college professor who has moved his family across the country to take a teaching job, transplanting James from Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. James has a hard time fitting into his new surroundings.

James at 16

1977

Hollywood Beat poster
5.0

Hollywood Beat is a mid-1980s American television police drama starring Jack Scalia, Jay Acovone, Edward Winter, and John Matuszak. The series aired Saturday night at 8:00 p.m Eastern time. A pair of undercover cops, Nick McCarren (Jack Scalia) and Jack Rado (Jay Acovone) cruise the filthy, neon-lit streets of Hollywood, looking for crime in all the right places as rock music blares in the background.

Hollywood Beat

1985

Carter Country poster
5.8

Carter Country is an American television sitcom that ran from 1977 to 1979 on ABC.

Carter Country

1977

The New Odd Couple poster
5.8

The New Odd Couple is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1982–1983, and was an updated version of the 1970s television series The Odd Couple. The New Odd Couple was the second attempt to remake a series of one of Neil Simon's plays with a primarily African-American cast. The first was Barefoot in the Park.

The New Odd Couple

1982

House of Frankenstein poster
6.1

Detective Coyle is trying to solve several bizarre murders and is having no luck finding a suspect. But when his girlfriend turns into a werewolf and gets kidnapped by a vampire, things start to fall into place...

House of Frankenstein

1997