Search
Elizabeth Allen Profile
|
|
Photo gallery |
| (Elizabeth Ellen Gillease) |
|
| 25 January 29 | is born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Joseph and Viola Gillease |
| ? | as a teenager, she is discovered by a photographer as she walks down Madison Avenue |
| ? | becomes a high fashion model for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar |
| 12 April 51 | returns to New York from Cherbourg, France, aboard the Queen Mary |
| 53 | marries a German baron, Karl / Carl von Vietinghoff Scheel. He's about 39; she's about 24. |
| auditions for Jackie Gleason in little white gloves and a Norman Norell dress |
|
| ? | becomes Gleason's original "And away we go!" girl, opening "The Jackie Gleason Show." Later she will say: "I hated being remembered as the 'Away we go!' girl. Now, I love it, because so many peopled liked it. It's flattering." |
| ? | while on the Gleason show, she also works as a costume designer for a production of Hamlet by the Helen Hayes Equity Group. One day, Ms. Hayes notices that Elizabeth unwaveringly watches every rehearsal and says to her, "I think you're in the wrong end of the business." She then begins playing roles with the company's national touring troupe. |
| ? | when Gleason moves the show to Florida, she remains in New York |
| ? | divorces Vietinghoff Scheel |
| October 57 | while working in an industrial show in Detroit, she's phoned to return to New York and read for David Merrick's upcoming Romanoff and Juliet. She was recommended by Jack Manning, director of the Helen Hayes touring troupe. |
| debuts on Broadway opposite Peter Ustinov in Romanoff and Juliet. "Summoned from Detroit, she took over the part on 3 days notice and was brilliant..." |
|
| November 57 | is given a raise and a run-of-the-play contract in Romanoff and Juliet |
| January 58 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reveals: "Elizabeth Allen, the pretty leading lady of Romanoff and Juliet, plays her offstage balcony scenes with Allen Chase, one of the Four Voices of disc renown..." |
| 62 | is nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in Broadway's The Gay Life |
| April 62 | is signed for a featured role in Columbia Pictures' upcoming Diamond Head |
| ? | director John Ford visits the set of Diamond Head, spots her in a muumuu, and casts her for his Donovan's Reef |
| October 62 | columnist Earl Wilson reports from New York: "Cesar Romero saw Elizabeth Allen (of Donovan's Reef) off at the L. A. airport - but beau Bob Taplinger met her here..." |
| February 63 | columnist Walter Winchell tells: "Cesar Romero airmailed pearl earrings to his beloved, actress Elizabeth Allen, who jetted in the other night. To remind her not to give anyone his place..." |
| March 63 | columnist Mike Connolly writes: "Liz Allen learned the bossa nova from Cesar Romero and then taught it to Jack Lord for their co-starring stint in a 'Stoney Burke' segment..." |
| April 63 | is seen at Perino's with Cesar Romero |
| May 63 | Walter Winchell adds: "Cesar Romero is a dear and all that sortathing, but actress Elizabeth Allen gave all her dinner dates here to Bob Taplinger - usually at the Pompeii on Park Avenue..." |
| September 63 | dates producer Lawrence Carr at the Dugout in Greenwich Village |
| October 63 | is reported dating actor George Montgomery |
| February 64 | dates Tom Poston |
| August 64 | columnist Harrison Carroll knows: "Bells will be ringing for Elizabeth Allen (she used to be Cesar Romero's favorite date). Her potential husband is actor Georgio Tozzi. They'll be doing South Pacific together, come August, in Pittsburgh." |
| December 64 | Walter Winchell tells: "The Sardi's set has a new topic 'A': Actress Elizabeth Allen and an Italian actor already spoken for..." |
| 65 | is nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in Richard Rodgers' Do I Hear a Waltz? |
| March 65 | she and Cesar Romero are reported dating again in New York |
| Walter Winchell's back to her: "The reason lovely Elizabeth Allen, co-star of Do I Hear a Waltz?, cancelled her plans with Ralph Taeger, is one of the cast..." |
|
| January 66 | is writer Edward Lakso's "guide-about town. He's en route to Rome to write Dollar a Head, a De Laurentiis movie..." |
| drives a '55 Thunderbird and would have bought a house in New Jersey if Do I Hear a Waltz? would have been a big enough hit |
|
| August 66 | is on the Columbus, Ohio, stage in Oliver opposite Walter Slezak |
| April 67 | Earl Wilson writes: "Elizabeth Allen, who's so delectable in Sherry, is wearing a ruby ring from a far-from-secret admirer..." |
| July 67 | is seen at the Red Onion banjo-jumping saloon with David Barrett |
| June 68 | is in the touring production of Cactus Flower opposite Hugh O'Brian |
| Walter Winchell reports her arriving in Hollywood to co-star in Cactus Flower. "Brought 20 hunks of luggage (six trunks), two dawgs, a maid, a British racing bike and an air-conditioning unit..." |
|
| December 68 | Walter Winchell reports her getting over a shattered romance "with the help of a director...." |
| ? | while filming "Bracken's World," she resides at a Venice beach apartment fronting the Pacific Ocean |
| January 70 | columnist Barney Glazer reports: "Producer-director Walter Doniger, who met Elizabeth Allen when he directed her in the pilot of 'Bracken's World,' is still dating the beautiful actress. He once squired Barbara Parkins around town." |
| April 84 | is reported still keeping up a hectic pace after 30 years in show business |
| ? | resides in Westbrookville, New York |
| 19 September 06 | as Elizabeth Allen, she dies at age 77 in Fishkill, New York, of kidney failure. She leaves no immediate survivors. It was her sister-in-law Marion Gillease who told reporters the cause of death. |
| Sources: The New York Times, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Syracuse Herald-Journal, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Weirton Daily Times, The Lima News, Amarillo Globe-Times, Pasadena Star-News, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, The San Antonio Light, Humboldt Standard, The Evening Standard, McKean County Democrat, Mansfield News-Journal, The Record Newspapers, The Post-Register, The Fresno Bee, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography | |