Mad Max 2 star Mike Preston dies aged 93

Mike Preston, the actor best remembered for playing settler leader Pappagallo in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, has died aged 93.

His wife, Josie Preston, confirmed to Variety that the actor passed away on 8 June in Florida. 

No cause of death has been disclosed.

Born Jack Davis in London in 1938, Preston's career actually began in music rather than acting. 

He scored three UK Top 40 hits as a singer in the late 1950s before relocating to Australia, where he worked as a nightclub performer and later moved into television, hosting In Melbourne Tonight. 

He went on to build a substantial television career with Down Under, appearing in 42 episodes of the crime series Homicide as Detective Bob Delaney, as well as taking roles in the soap opera Bellbird and shows including Dixon of Dock Green, Tandarra, Chopper Squad and Cop Shop.

It was George Miller's 1981 post-apocalyptic classic Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, opposite Mel Gibson, that gave Preston his signature role.

As Pappagallo, he played the compassionate leader of a community of oil refinery settlers who persuades Max Rockatansky to help them escape a wasteland overrun by marauding gangs. 

He went on to appear in Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn and played Alec Shaw across eight episodes of the 1984 series Hot Pursuit, before picking up guest spots throughout the 1980s and 1990s on shows including Ellen, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Alien Nation, Highlander and Law & Order. 

His final credited role came as a voice actor in the 2002 PlayStation 2 video game The Getaway.

News of Preston's death comes weeks after that of his Mad Max 2 co-star Kjell Nilsson, who played the villainous Lord Humungus and died in Queensland, Australia, aged 76, following a four-year battle with kidney disease. 

Preston is survived by his wife, Josie, and their two daughters.