Irving Allen

Irving Allen (born Irving Applebaum; November 24, 1905 – December 17, 1987) was an Austro-Hungarian–born American theatrical and cinematic producer and director.

He received an Academy Award in 1948 for producing the short movie Climbing the Matterhorn. In the early 1950s, he formed Warwick Films with partner Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and relocated to England to leverage film making against a subsidy offered by the British government. Through the 1950s, they each became known as one of the best independent film producers of the day, as the two men would sometimes work in tandem, but more often than not on independent projects for their joint enterprise producing multiple projects in a given year.

Biography Born in Lemberg (Austro-Hungary), Allen entered the film industry as an editor at Universal, Paramount and Republic in 1929. During the 1940s, he made a sequence of shorts, including the Academy Award-nominated Forty Boys and a Song (1941), which he directed. His short films often won more acclaim than his low-budget features. He later said "for two years after that Oscar I was out of work. Then I decided there was no profit in being a genius."

In the late 1940s, Allen started concentrating more fully on being a producer.

Warwick Films In the early 1950s, he led Warwick Films as the 'name producer', making films in both the US and England, with Albert R. Broccoli something of a junior partner. In 1957–1958, his partnership with Broccoli was strained both by Broccoli's family health crises (his second wife became terminally ill, soon after adopting one child and with a newborn) and to a lesser extent their disagreement over the film potential of the James Bond novel series. Broccoli was very interested, believing the novels could lead to a high quality series of films, and Allen was not, eschewing the potential of Broccoli's vision of Bond in favor of older established forms. The partners met with Bond author Ian Fleming separately in 1957, Cubby from New York where he'd retreated to care for his wife, but in the London meeting with Fleming arranged by Broccoli, Allen all but insulted Fleming, declaring that Fleming's novels weren't even "good enough for television". Broccoli mired in his troubles in New York, only knew that no deal had occurred until pre-production meetings with Fleming which resulted in the decision to make the Dr. No, as the first film project by Eon Productions. "I've done practically everything," he said. "There's no place I haven't been in the business. The only thing I can't do is write."

Allen's Helm series had one major effect on Broccoli's Bond movies (produced at the time in partnership with Harry Saltzman). To get Dean Martin on board as Matt Helm, Allen had to make the actor a partner in the enterprise. Dean Martin ended up making more money on The Silencers (1966) than Sean Connery made on Thunderball (1965). This did not go unnoticed by Connery.

Other Allen films included The Desperados (1969).

Allen was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood, California.

Filmography