Rae Allen

Allen was born as Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo in Brooklyn, New York City, on July 3, 1926,{{cite book |last1=Benjamin |first1=Ruth |last2=Rosenblatt |first2=Arthur |title=Who Sang what on Broadway, 1866–1996: The singers (A–K) |date=2006 |publisher=McFarland |pages=15 |isbn=9780786421893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVwRAQAAMAAJ&q=Rae+Allen+1926 |access-date=March 6, 2022}} to Julia (née Riccio), a seamstress and hairdresser and Joseph Abruzzo, an opera singer and chauffeur, whose brothers acted in vaudeville.

At the age of 25, she played Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/arts/television/rae-allen-dead.html?auth=login-email&login=email|title=Rae Allen, Tony Winner and TV Mainstay, Dies at 95|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 8, 2022|last1=Sandomir|first1=Richard}} Rae Allen trained at the HB Studio[https://hbstudio.org/about-hb-studio/alumni/ HB Studio alumni], hbstudio.org. Accessed April 7, 2022. in New York City's Greenwich Village. She graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1947.{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2022/04/rae-allen-dead-actress-tony-damn-yankees-sopranos-1234995997/|title=Rae Allen Dies: Tony Award-Winning 'Damn Yankees', 'Sopranos', 'All In The Family' Actress Was 95|work=Deadline Hollywood|date=April 6, 2022|accessdate=April 6, 2022|last=Tapp|first=Tom|archive-url=https://archive.today/20220408024756/https://deadline.com/2022/04/rae-allen-dead-actress-tony-damn-yankees-sopranos-1234995997/|archive-date=April 8, 2022|url-status=live}} She was first married to John M. Allen and then divorced; and later married and divorced, politician Herbert Harris.

Allen died in her sleep on April 6, 2022, at the age of 95 at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement community in Woodland Hills, California. She is survived by her four nieces: Nadine (McCann), Laura, Deborah, and Betty Cosgrove. {{cite web|title=Rae Allen, Tony Winner and TV Mainstay, Dies at 95|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/arts/television/rae-allen-dead.html|work=The New York Times|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=April 8, 2022|accessdate=April 8, 2022}}

Allen was nominated for the Tony Award three times: for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Damn Yankees in 1956, and for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Traveller Without Luggage in 1965 and And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little in 1971, winning for the latter. In 1958, she recreated her role as the nosy reporter Gloria in Damn Yankees in the film adaptation, in both of which she introduced the song "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo."

Allen appeared in such films as Reign Over Me, A League of Their Own, Stargate, and Where's Poppa? On television, she appeared on two consecutive episodes of Seinfeld as unemployment counselor Lenore Sokol, who must deal with George Costanza, who tries to get her to approve an extension of his benefits by dating her homely daughter, who ends up rejecting him. She also made appearances on television shows such as The Patty Duke Show, Hill Street Blues, All in the Family, Car 54 Where Are You, Head of the Class, Remington Steele, The Sopranos, and Grey's Anatomy.

• Damn Yankees (1954–1955)
• The Pajama Game (1954–1956)
• Oliver! (1963–1964)
• On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965)
• Fiddler on the Roof
• And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (for which she won the 1971 Tony Award for Supporting Actress)
• Dude (1972)

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Category:1926 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni

Category:American film actresses

Category:American musical theatre actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:Actresses from Brooklyn

Category:Musicians from Brooklyn

Category:Tony Award winners