Allen Midgette
{{Short description|American actor (1939–2021)}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Allen Midgette.jpg
| name = Allen Midgette
| caption = Midgette by Billy Name, 1966
| birthname = Allen Joseph Midgett
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|02|07|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|06|16|1939|02|02|mf=y}}
| death_place = Woodstock, New York, U.S.
| yearsactive = 1968–2014
| occupation = Actor, Painter
| spouse =
}}
Allen Midgette (born as Allen Joseph Midgett; February 2, 1939 – June 16, 2021) was an American actor and painter. He is best known for impersonating pop artist Andy Warhol on a college lecture tour in 1967.{{Cite web|last=Smart|first=Paul|date=2019-11-05|title=Alan Midgette's mural of the whole - Hudson Valley One|url=https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2019/11/05/alan-midgettes-mural-of-the-whole/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=hudsonvalleyone.com|language=en-US}}
Life and career
Midgett was born in Camden, New Jersey, the son of Dorothy (Jones) and Jarvis Midgett, who was a ship captain and harbor master.{{Cite news|last=Genzlinger|first=Neil|date=2021-06-18|title=Allen Midgette, an Ersatz Andy Warhol, Dies at 82|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/arts/allen-midgette-an-ersatz-andy-warhol-dies-at-82.html|access-date=2021-06-20|issn=0362-4331}}
Midgette appeared in two French New Wave-influenced avant-garde Italian films by Bernardo Bertolucci, the then 21-year-old's 1962 directorial debut La commare secca (based on a story by Pier Paolo Pasolini for whom Bertolucci was previously an assistant) and Before the Revolution (1964). He was also an extra in the 1961 film version of West Side Story.{{Cite web |last=Foye |first=Raymond |date=2020-10-08 |title=I’ll Be Your Mirror: Allen Midgette |url=https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2020/09/23/interview-ill-be-your-mirror-allen-midgette/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Gagosian Quarterly |language=en}}
In October 1967, Midgette was sent to impersonate Warhol in appearances at the University of Oregon, the University of Utah, the University of Montana, and Linfield College.{{Cite news |last=Fagan |first=Beth |date=1968-02-08 |title=Pop Artist Andy Warhol Confesses Actor Stand-In Sent on Oregon Tour |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oregonian-pop-artist-andy-warhol-con/170569614/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |work=The Oregonian |pages=8}} He was paid $2,600 for the appearance.{{Cite news |last=Bishoff |first=Don |date=1968-02-08 |title=Film Maker Sends 'Double' on 4-Campus Hoax |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-film-maker-sends/170567864/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=3}}{{Cite web|last=Nichols|first=Sharon|date=7 August 2013|title=Being Andy Warhol|url=https://www.chronogram.com/hudsonvalley/being-andy-warhol/Content?oid=2193186|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Chronogram Magazine|language=en-us}} Warhol's film collaborator Paul Morrissey stated: "Circumstances prevented Andy from going on the tour at the last minute and he thought it would be nice if he could invent another person in place of himself ... somebody who was a little more talkative and looked a little more dashing. He (Midgett) was a person who had been in some films for us, but we have never been able to pay him any money. Since he went out in place of Andy, we gave him the money from the tour. We put some powder in his hair to make him look older ... and gave him a leather jacket. They have a very similar look."
Midgette appeared in two of Warhol's films, The Nude Restaurant (1967) and Lonesome Cowboys (1968).
He later acted in another Bertolucci movie, 1900 (1976), in the role of Vagabond, which, Midgette related, the director wrote specifically for him.{{Cite web|url=https://warholstars.org/andywarhol/interview/midgette/allen_midgette.html|title=Allen Midgette Interview|website=warholstars.org}}
Midgette died on June 16, 2021, in Woodstock, New York at the age of 82.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0585600}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midgette, Alan}}
Category:Male actors from Camden, New Jersey
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