Adrianne Allen
Encyclopedia
Adrianne Allen was an English
stage actress.
Most often seen in light comedy
, played Sybil Chase in the original West End
production of Private Lives
and Elizabeth Bennet in the 1935 Broadway
production of Pride and Prejudice
.
She appeared in several films and was the mother of Daniel
and Anna Massey
.
, England
on 7 February 1907. After her education in France
and Germany
, she trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
, where her 1926 graduation performance caught the attention of Basil Dean
, who cast her as Nina Vansittart in the Noel Coward
play Easy Virtue
.
In 1929, she married Raymond Massey
, after he had cast her for a part in Noel Coward's play The Rat Trap
. Her first West End
appearance followed in July 1930, where she played the role of Sibyl in Noel Coward's Private Lives
. She had two children with Raymond Massey, Daniel and Anna, who later became actors. Her marriage ended in divorce in 1939.
During this time she appeared on Broadway
(in Cynara and as Gladys Cooper in The Shining Hour) and in several films, most notably Merrily We Go to Hell
.
Following her divorce, she married an American lawyer, William Whitney.
In 1942, she played Doris, a former barmaid who married a Polish count, in the original London production of Terence Rattigan
's play Flare Path
. She starred in more films, and appeared on British television
, before returning to Broadway in 1957, where she starred alongside her daughter in The Reluctant Debutante
. Her acting career ended in 1958.
She died from cancer
on 14 September 1993 in Montreux
, Switzerland
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
stage actress.
Most often seen in light comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, played Sybil Chase in the original West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production of Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
and Elizabeth Bennet in the 1935 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
.
She appeared in several films and was the mother of Daniel
Daniel Massey (actor)
Daniel Raymond Massey was an English actor and performer. He is possibly best known for his starring role in the British TV drama The Roads to Freedom, as Daniel, alongside Michael Bryant...
and Anna Massey
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...
.
Life and career
Allen was born in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on 7 February 1907. After her education in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, she trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
, where her 1926 graduation performance caught the attention of Basil Dean
Basil Dean
Basil Herbert Dean CBE was an English actor, writer, film producer/director and theatrical producer/director....
, who cast her as Nina Vansittart in the Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
play Easy Virtue
Easy Virtue (play)
Easy Virtue is a three-act play by Noël Coward. He wrote it in 1924 when he was 25 years old, and it is his 16th play. The play had a successful first run in New York in 1925 and then opened in London in 1926...
.
In 1929, she married Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
, after he had cast her for a part in Noel Coward's play The Rat Trap
The Rat Trap
The Rat Trap is a four act drama by Noel Coward, his 'first really serious attempt at psychological conflict,' written when he was only 18....
. Her first West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
appearance followed in July 1930, where she played the role of Sibyl in Noel Coward's Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
. She had two children with Raymond Massey, Daniel and Anna, who later became actors. Her marriage ended in divorce in 1939.
During this time she appeared on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
(in Cynara and as Gladys Cooper in The Shining Hour) and in several films, most notably Merrily We Go to Hell
Merrily We Go to Hell
Merrily We Go to Hell is a 1932 Pre-Code film starring Academy Award winning actor Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney. The film was directed by Dorothy Arzner. The film's title is an example of the sensationalistic titles that were common in the Pre-Code era. Many newspapers refused to publicize the...
.
Following her divorce, she married an American lawyer, William Whitney.
In 1942, she played Doris, a former barmaid who married a Polish count, in the original London production of Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's play Flare Path
Flare Path (play)
-1942–43 Broadway production:Flare Path had a short run on Broadway at Henry Miller's Theatre from December 1942 to January 1943. Alec Guinness played Teddy and Nancy Kelly played Patricia. The play was Guinness's Broadway debut, and he was granted leave from the Royal Navy in order to take the role...
. She starred in more films, and appeared on British television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, before returning to Broadway in 1957, where she starred alongside her daughter in The Reluctant Debutante
The Reluctant Debutante
The Reluctant Debutante is a 1958 comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and William Douglas-Home based on Douglas-Home's play of the same name...
. Her acting career ended in 1958.
She died from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
on 14 September 1993 in Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Filmography
- Loose Ends (1930)
- The Stronger SexThe Stronger SexThe Stronger Sex is a 1931 British drama film directed by Gareth Gundrey and starring Colin Clive, Adrianne Allen and Gordon Harker. A man rescues his wife's lover during a disaster at a coal mine.-Cast:* Colin Clive - Warren Barrington...
(1931) - The Woman Between (1931)
- Black CoffeeBlack Coffee (1931 film)Black Coffee is a 1931 British detective film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott, and based on the play Black Coffee by Agatha Christie featuring her famous private detective Hercule Poirot...
(1931) - Merrily We Go to HellMerrily We Go to HellMerrily We Go to Hell is a 1932 Pre-Code film starring Academy Award winning actor Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney. The film was directed by Dorothy Arzner. The film's title is an example of the sensationalistic titles that were common in the Pre-Code era. Many newspapers refused to publicize the...
(1932) - The Night of June 13th (1932)
- The Morals of MarcusThe Morals of MarcusThe Morals of Marcus is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Miles Mander and starring Lupe Vélez, Ian Hunter and Adrianne Allen. An archaeologist finds a womam hiding in his luggage who has escaped from a harem and they eventually fall in love and marry. It was based on a play The Morals of...
(1935) - The October ManThe October ManThe October Man is a 1947 mystery film starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood, based on a novel by Eric Ambler, who also adapted it and produced...
(1947) - Bond StreetBond Street (film)Bond Street is a 1948 British drama film directed by Gordon Parry and based on a story by Terence Rattigan. It starred Jean Kent, Roland Young, Kathleen Harrison and Derek Farr...
(1948) - Vote for HuggettVote for HuggettVote for Huggett is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison and Diana Dors. Warner reprises his role as the head of a London family, in the post-war years. It was the second in the Huggetts Trilogy, after 1948's Here Come the Huggetts. In it,...
(1949) - The Final TestThe Final TestThe Final Test is a 1953 British sports film written by Terence Rattigan, directed by Anthony Asquith, and starring Jack Warner, Robert Morley, George Relph and Ray Jackson. A number of leading cricketers also appear including Denis Compton, Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook.-Plot:The film is a comedy...
(1953) - Meet Mr. Malcolm (1954)
