Elizabeth Allan

Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1908 – 27 July 1990) was an English actress who worked in both England and Hollywood, making about 50 films over more than a quarter century. She was born at Skegness in Lincolnshire, England. After four years on stage with The Old Vic, she made her movie debut in 1931, first appearing in The Alibi. In 1932 she joined Wilfred J. O'Bryen—to whom she had been introduced by actor Herbert Marshall--in a marriage that lasted u... more

Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1908 – 27 July 1990) was an English actress who worked in both England and Hollywood, making about 50 films over more than a quarter century. She was born at Skegness in Lincolnshire, England. After four years on stage with The Old Vic, she made her movie debut in 1931, first appearing in The Alibi. In 1932 she joined Wilfred J. O'Bryen—to whom she had been introduced by actor Herbert Marshall--in a marriage that lasted 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 MGM. 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 Frank Lloyd's A Tale of Two Cities, but was also featured as the imperiled young lady in Todd Browning's Mark of the Vampire. Allan did not think highly of the latter film,... less