Robert Allen

Robert Tex Allen also credited as Bob Allen was a leading actor in both feature films and Bmovie westerns between 1935 and 1944 Born as Irvine E Theodore Baehr on March 28 1906 in Mount Vernon New York Allen went on to graduate from the New York Military Academy in 1924 where he rode in the academy cavalry and from Dartmouth College in 1929 with a degree in English In vacations he had driven a truck as a labourer He worked for a bank which soon failed in the Great Depression He flew briefly with the Curtis Flying service as a commercial pilot He first came to the screen in 1926 before signing a standard acting contract with Paramount Pictures in 1929 He appeared in the famous Marx Brothers movie Animal Crackers and several other small parts Then he signed with Columbia Pictures in 1935 He also later contracted with 20th Century Fox Allens first notable role was the male lead in Love Me Forever 1935 for which he won a Box Office Award He gained additional notice as the star of When Youre in Love 1936 opposite Grace Moore The same year he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the title role in the film The Life of Lafayette After the departure of cowboy star Ken Maynard Allen was plugged into producer Larry Darmours formulaic Ranger pictures Along with sidekick Wally Wales played by Hal Taliaferro he redefined the role starring in six films for director Spencer Gordon Bennet in that year alone These films became known as the Bob Allen Ranger series However the studio was looking for a singing cowboy to compete with Gene Autry and Allen was eventually replaced by Roy Rogers He appeared in two dozen films after that however He had acted on Broadway in the original productions of Show Boat and Kiss Them for Me In 1956 he appeared in the original production of Auntie Mame opposite Rosalind Russell and later Greer Garson He appeared in other Broadway plays in touring productions in soap operas documentaries and commercials He became a real estate broker in 1964 but returned to the stage from time to time including an appearance as JB Biggley in the 1972 Equity Library Theatre revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Tex Allen licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia