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.
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. 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". 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.p.97 Vieira, Mark A. Majestic Hollywood: The Greatest Films of 1939 Running Press, 10 December 2013 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.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson
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 Vera Mannering Black Coffee Barbara Amory Chin Chin Chinaman Olga Dureska Michael and Mary Romo Many Waters Freda Barcaldine 1932 Service for Ladies Sylvia RobertsonNaomi MelshamNine till SixGracie AbbottDown Our StreetMaisie CollinsInsultPola DuboisDaisy Bunting 1933Sonia BryantLooking ForwardCaroline ServiceJoan EltonNo Marriage TiesPeggy WilsonHelen HemingAce of AcesNancy Adams 1934Jane FrenshamMen in WhiteBarbaraJava HeadNettie VollarOutcast LadyVenice Harpenden 1935David CopperfieldClara CopperfieldMark of the VampireIrena BorotynLucie Manette 1936Flora Anne ThistlewaiteCamilleNichette 1937NadiaSlave ShipNancy Marlowe 1938Dangerous MedicineVictoria AinswellIt Might Be YouBettyShort subject1939InquestMargaret Hamilton 1940Leonora BarradineSaloon BarQueenie King 1942Went the Day Well?Peggy PrydeMrs. Cibber1945He Snoops to ConquerJane Strawbridge1948VirtuosoJudith Wainwright1949If This Be SinSybil1951No Highway in the SkyShirley Scott1952Folly to Be WiseAngela Prout 1953Twice Upon a TimeCarol-Anne BaileyLouise Scobie1954Front Page StorySusan Grant1955Philippa Roberts1957Going Shopping with Elizabeth Allan BFI Herself (with commentary by David Jacobs (broadcaster) (Short film, at Harrods)1958Barbara Rankin
Television Year Title Role Notes1951Frances HeinTV film1955–56AnnabelTV series1956Cyra CarterTV film1956ToniEpisode: "Top Secret"1961Call Oxbridge 2000Peggy GrahamTV series
References
External links
Photographs and literature on Elizabeth Allan