Elizabeth Allan

Last updated

Elizabeth Allan
Elizabeth Allan in Camille.jpg
Elizabeth Allan in the trailer for Camille (1936)
Born(1910-04-09)9 April 1910 [1]
Skegness, Lincolnshire, England [1]
Died27 July 1990(1990-07-27) (aged 80)
Hove, East Sussex, England
OccupationActress
Years active1927–1967
Spouse
Wilfrid J. O'Bryen
(m. 1932;died 1977)

Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1910 – 27 July 1990) was an English stage and film actress who worked in both Britain and Hollywood, where she appeared in 50 films.

Contents

Life and career

Allan was born in Skegness, Lincolnshire in 1910 and educated in Darlington, County Durham. At age 17, she made her stage debut at the Old Vic. She made her film debut four years later in Alibi . [1]

She appeared in a number of films for Julius Hagen's Twickenham Studios, but was also featured in Gainsborough's Michael and Mary and Korda's Service for Ladies . [1] In 1932 she married agent Wilfrid J. O'Bryen, to whom she was introduced by actor Herbert Marshall; they were together until his death in 1977.

Her first US/UK co-production and first US production came in 1933, and she worked in the United States under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1935 was her most memorable year in Hollywood, when she not only distinguished herself in two memorable Dickens' adaptations as David's unfortunate young mother in George Cukor's David Copperfield and as Lucie Manette in Jack Conway's A Tale of Two Cities , but was also featured in Tod Browning's Mark of the Vampire .

Allan did not think highly of the latter film, to which she had been assigned, and considered it "slumming". [ citation needed ] MGM announced her for a leading part in King Vidor's The Citadel , but she was subsequently replaced by Rosalind Russell. When she was replaced again by Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr Chips , Elizabeth successfully sued the studio. [2] The studio retaliated by refusing to let her work, and, frustrated, she returned to the UK in 1938. The same year she appeared onstage in the West End farce The Innocent Party alongside Basil Radford and Cecil Parker. In 1939 she was in the West End production of Max Catto's Punch without Judy .

By the 1950s, Allan had made the transition to character parts. Particularly memorable is her appearance as Trevor Howard's brittle and dissatisfied wife in the film adaptation of Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter (1953). In 1958, she appeared as Boris Karloff's wife in The Haunted Strangler . Late in her career, she was a frequent panellist on television game shows, including the British version of What's My Line? . She was named Great Britain's Top Female TV Personality of 1952.

Death

She died at Hove, on the Sussex coast, at age 80. She was cremated at Woodvale Crematorium in Brighton and the ashes were taken by the family. [3]

Legacy

Her name is on Brighton & Hove's Scania OmniDekka bus 655.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1931 Alibi Ursula Browne
Rodney Steps InMasked LadyShort subject
The Rosary Vera Mannering
Black Coffee Barbara Amory
Chin Chin Chinaman Olga Dureska
Michael and Mary Romo
Many Waters Freda Barcaldine
1932 Service for Ladies Sylvia Robertson
The Chinese Puzzle Naomi Melsham
Nine till Six Gracie Abbott
Down Our Street Maisie Collins
Insult Pola Dubois
The Lodger Daisy Bunting
1933 The Shadow Sonia Bryant
Looking Forward Caroline Service
The Lost Chord Joan Elton
No Marriage Ties Peggy Wilson
The Solitaire Man Helen Heming
Ace of Aces Nancy Adams
1934 The Mystery of Mr. X Jane Frensham
Men in White Barbara
Java Head Nettie Vollar
Outcast Lady Venice Harpenden
1935 David Copperfield Clara Copperfield
Mark of the Vampire Irena Borotyn
A Tale of Two Cities Lucie Manette
1936 A Woman Rebels Flora Anne Thistlewaite
Camille Nichette
1937 The Soldier and the Lady Nadia
Slave Ship Nancy Marlowe
1938 Dangerous Medicine Victoria Ainswell
It Might Be YouBettyShort subject
1939 Inquest Margaret Hamilton
1940 The Girl Who Forgot Leonora Barradine
Saloon Bar Queenie King
1942 Went the Day Well? Peggy Pryde
The Great Mr. Handel Mrs. Cibber
1945 He Snoops to Conquer Jane Strawbridge
1948VirtuosoJudith Wainwright
1949If This Be SinSybil
1951 No Highway in the Sky Shirley Scott
1952 Folly to Be Wise Angela Prout
1953 Twice Upon a Time Carol-Anne Bailey
The Heart of the Matter Louise Scobie
1954 Front Page Story Susan Grant
1955 The Brain Machine Philippa Roberts
1957Going Shopping with Elizabeth Allan BFI Herself (with commentary by David Jacobs (broadcaster) (Short film, at Harrods )
1958 The Haunted Strangler Barbara Rankin

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1951The ConcertFrances HeinTV film
1955–56The Adventures of AnnabelAnnabelTV series
1956The ChaletCyra CarterTV film
1956 The Adventures of Aggie ToniEpisode: "Top Secret"
1961Call Oxbridge 2000Peggy GrahamTV series

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora Robson</span> English actress (1902–1984)

Dame Flora McKenzie Robson was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from queens to murderesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Hiller</span> English stage and film actress (1912–2003)

Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took command of the screen whenever she appeared on film". Despite many notable film performances, Hiller chose to remain primarily a stage actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Hobson</span> British actress (1917–1998)

Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Profumo affair in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miriam Hopkins</span> American film and TV actress (1902–1972)

Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility. She signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth McGovern</span> American actress (born 1961)

Elizabeth Lee McGovern is an American actress. She has received many awards and nominations, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, three Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Academy Award nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Trevor</span> American actress (1910–2000)

Claire Trevor was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Key Largo (1948), and received nominations for her roles in The High and the Mighty (1954) and Dead End (1937). Trevor received top billing, ahead of John Wayne, for Stagecoach (1939).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Anderson</span> Australian stage and screen actress (1897–1992)

Dame Frances Margaret Anderson, known professionally as Judith Anderson, was an Australian actress who had a successful career in stage, film, and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billie Burke</span> American stage and film actress (1884–1970)

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the MGM film musical The Wizard of Oz (1939)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Lockwood</span> British stage and film actress (1916–1990)

Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE, was a British actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included The Lady Vanishes (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), The Man in Grey (1943), and The Wicked Lady (1945). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress for the 1955 film Cast a Dark Shadow. She also starred in the television series Justice (1971–74).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Ehle</span> American actress (born 1969)

Jennifer Anne Ehle is an American actress. She gained recognition and acclaim for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice (1995), for which she received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. Known for her roles on Broadway and the West End, she has won two Tony Awards as well as a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edna Best</span> British actress (1900–1974)

Edna Clara Best was a British actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dora Bryan</span> English actress (1923–2014)

Dora May Broadbent, known as Dora Bryan, was an English actress of stage, film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Fuller</span> American actress

Mary Claire Fuller was an American actress active in both stage and silent films. She also was a screenwriter and had several films produced. An early major star, by 1917 she could no longer obtain roles in film or on stage. A later effort to revive her career in Hollywood failed in the 1920s after talkies began to dominate film. After suffering a nervous breakdown, she was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC in 1947 and lived there until her death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pert Kelton</span> American actress (1907–1968)

Pert L. Kelton was an American stage, movie, radio, and television actress. She was the original Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason. During the 1930s, she was a prominent comedic supporting and leading actress in Hollywood films such as Gregory La Cava's Bed of Roses with Constance Bennett and Raoul Walsh's The Bowery with Wallace Beery and George Raft. She performed in a dozen Broadway productions between 1925 and 1968. Most famously, she created the role of 'Mrs. Paroo' in the original production of the musical The Music Man, which she reprised in the movie adaptation. In the early 1950s, her career was interrupted as a result of Hollywood blacklisting, leading to her departure from The Honeymooners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Clements (actor)</span> British actor (1910–1988)

Sir John Selby Clements was a British actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitzi Green</span> American child actress (1920–1969)

Mitzi Green was an American actress and singer known for her work as a child actress for Paramount and RKO, in the early "talkies" era. She then acted on Broadway and in other stage works, as well as in films and on television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Boland</span> American actress (1882–1965)

Mary Boland was an American stage and film actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Ricketts</span> English-American actor and director (1853–1939)

Thomas B. Ricketts was an English-born American stage and film actor and director who was a pioneer in the film industry. He portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in the first American film adaptation of A Christmas Carol (1908), and directed one of the first motion pictures ever made in Hollywood. After directing scores of silent films, including the first film to be released by Universal Pictures, Ricketts became a prominent character actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Roc</span> English actress (1915–2003)

Patricia Roc was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) and The Wicked Lady (1945), though she only made one film in Hollywood, Canyon Passage (1946). She also appeared in Millions Like Us (1943), Jassy (1945), The Brothers (1947) and When the Bough Breaks (1947).

Renee Gertrude Gadd was an Argentine-born British film actress. She acted mostly in British films.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "This Week's Pen Portrait". Sheffield Evening Telegraph. 9 February 1939. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  2. p.97 Vieira, Mark A. Majestic Hollywood: The Greatest Films of 1939 Running Press, 10 December 2013
  3. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson