Elizabeth Allan

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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.

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". Script error: No such module "Unsubst". 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

Year Title Role Notes
1931 Alibi Ursula Browne
Rodney Steps In Masked Lady Short subject
Script error: No such module "Sort". 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
Script error: No such module "Sort". Naomi Melsham
Nine till Six Gracie Abbott
Down Our Street Maisie Collins
Insult Pola Dubois
Script error: No such module "Sort". Daisy Bunting
1933 Script error: No such module "Sort". Sonia Bryant
Looking Forward Caroline Service
Script error: No such module "Sort". Joan Elton
No Marriage Ties Peggy Wilson
Script error: No such module "Sort". Helen Heming
Ace of Aces Nancy Adams
1934 Script error: No such module "Sort". 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
Script error: No such module "Sort". Lucie Manette
1936 Script error: No such module "Sort". Flora Anne Thistlewaite
Camille Nichette
1937 Script error: No such module "Sort". Nadia
Slave Ship Nancy Marlowe
1938 Dangerous Medicine Victoria Ainswell
It Might Be You Betty Short subject
1939 Inquest Margaret Hamilton
1940 Script error: No such module "Sort". Leonora Barradine
Saloon Bar Queenie King
1942 Went the Day Well? Peggy Pryde
Script error: No such module "Sort". Mrs. Cibber
1945 He Snoops to Conquer Jane Strawbridge
1948 Virtuoso Judith Wainwright
1949 If This Be Sin Sybil
1951 No Highway in the Sky Shirley Scott
1952 Folly to Be Wise Angela Prout
1953 Twice Upon a Time Carol-Anne Bailey
Script error: No such module "Sort". Louise Scobie
1954 Front Page Story Susan Grant
1955 Script error: No such module "Sort". Philippa Roberts
1957 Going Shopping with Elizabeth Allan BFI Herself (with commentary by David Jacobs (broadcaster) (Short film, at Harrods)
1958 Script error: No such module "Sort". Barbara Rankin

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1951 Script error: No such module "Sort". Frances Hein TV film
1955–56 Script error: No such module "Sort". Annabel TV series
1956 Script error: No such module "Sort". Cyra Carter TV film
1956 Script error: No such module "Sort". Toni Episode: "Top Secret"
1961 Call Oxbridge 2000 Peggy Graham TV series

References

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  1. ↑ a b Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  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

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External links

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