Adrianne Allen

Allen was born in Manchester on 7 February 1907 to John and Margaret Allen. After her education in France and Germany,{{cite news|title=Adrianne Allen obituary|work=The Times|page=17|date=17 September 1993}} 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 Noël Coward play Easy Virtue, when it arrived to London from Broadway.{{cite news|title=Adrianne Allen on Collectors' Post|url=http://www.collectorspost.com/cgi-bin/ShopLoader.cgi?Actors/adrianne_allen.html|accessdate=5 November 2007|archive-date=22 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070622202837/http://www.collectorspost.com/cgi-bin/ShopLoader.cgi?Actors%2Fadrianne_allen.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Adrianne Allen – Private Lives Star, Also Two Paramount Pre-Code Gems|author=Cliff Aliperti|date=7 February 2013 |url=https://immortalephemera.com/30181/adrianne-allen-biography/}}

In 1929, she married Raymond Massey, after he had cast her for a part in Noël Coward's play The Rat Trap. Her first West End appearance followed in July 1930, where she played the role of Sibyl in Noël Coward's Private Lives. She had two children with Raymond Massey, Daniel and Anna, who later became actors. The marriage ended in divorce in 1939. Shortly after her divorce she married William Dwight Whitney, the lawyer who had handled the divorce.

During this time she appeared on Broadway, in Cynara, and as Judy Linden in The Shining Hour, and in several films, most notably Merrily We Go to Hell. In 1942, she played "Doris" in the original London production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path.Rattigan, Terence (2001). The Collected Plays of Terence Rattigan, Volume One, The Early Plays 1936–1952, pg. 80; {{ISBN|978-1-889439-27-3}}.

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.

Allen died from cancer on 14 September 1993 in Montreux, Switzerland.[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/20/obituaries/adrianne-allen-86-a-british-specialist-in-light-comedies.html Obituary], nytimes.com. Accessed 20 November 2022.

• Cynara (1931) as Doris Lea
• The Shining Hour (1934) as Judy Linden
• Pride and Prejudice (1935) as Elizabeth Bennet
• Flare Path (1942) as Doris, Countess Skriczevinsky
• Love for Love (1947) as Mrs. Frail
• Edward, My Son (1948) as Evelyn Holt
• Someone Waiting (1953) as Vera
• The Reluctant Debutante (1956) as Sheila Broadbent

• Loose Ends (1930)
• The Stronger Sex (1931)
• The Woman Between (1931)
• Black Coffee (1931)
• Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)
• The Night of June 13 (1932)
• The Morals of Marcus (1935)
• The October Man (1947)
• Bond Street (1948)
• Vote for Huggett (1949)
• The Final Test (1953)
• Meet Mr. Malcolm (1954)

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714104418/http://www.mmgcollectibles.com/images/100/1001104f.jpg Photo of Adrianne Allen]

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Category:1907 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:Massey family

Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Category:Deaths from cancer in Switzerland

Category:English film actresses

Category:English stage actresses

Category:English television actresses

Category:English expatriates in Switzerland

Category:Actresses from Manchester

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:English expatriate actresses in the United States

Category:20th-century English businesspeople