Robert Allen

Born: 1906-03-28

Robert "Tex" Allen (also credited as Bob Allen) was a leading actor in both feature films and B-movie westerns between 1935 and 1944. Born as Irvine E. Theodore Baehr on March 28, 1906 in Mount Vernon, New York, Allen went on to graduate from the New York Military Academy in 1924, where he rode in the academy cavalry and from Dartmouth College in 1929 with a degree in English. In vacations he had driven a truck as a labourer. He worked for a bank which soon failed in the Great Depression. He flew briefly with the Curtis Flying service as a commercial pilot. He first came to the screen in 1926 before signing a standard acting contract with Paramount Pictures, in 1929. He appeared in the famous Marx Brothers movie Animal Crackers and several other small parts. Then, he signed with Columbia Pictures in 1935. He also later contracted with 20th Century Fox. Allen's first notable role was the male lead in Love Me Forever (1935), for which he won a Box Office Award. He gained additional notice as the star of When You're in Love (1936), opposite Grace Moore. The same year, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the title role in the film The Life of Lafayette. After the departure of cowboy star Ken Maynard, Allen was plugged into producer Larry Darmour's formulaic Ranger pictures. Along with sidekick Wally Wales (played by Hal Taliaferro), he redefined the role, starring in six films for director Spencer Gordon Bennet in that year alone. These films became known as the Bob Allen Ranger series. However, the studio was looking for a singing cowboy to compete with Gene Autry and Allen was eventually replaced by Roy Rogers. He appeared in two dozen films after that, however. He had acted on Broadway in the original productions of Show Boat and Kiss Them for Me. In 1956 he appeared in the original production of Auntie Mame, opposite Rosalind Russell, and later Greer Garson. He appeared in other Broadway plays, in touring productions, in soap operas, documentaries and commercials. He became a real estate broker in 1964 but returned to the stage from time to time, including an appearance as J.B. Biggley in the 1972 Equity Library Theatre revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert (Tex) Allen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


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The Awful Truth

as Frank Randall
Released: 1937-10-21

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start...

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Animal Crackers

as House Party Guest (uncredited)
Released: 1930-08-08

The well-known explorer and hunter Captain Spaulding has just returned from Africa, and is being...

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Crime and Punishment

as Dmitri
Released: 1935-11-22

A man is haunted by a murder he's committed.

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Night Nurse

as Party Guest (uncredited)
Released: 1931-07-16

Lora Hart manages to land a job in a hospital as a trainee nurse. Upon completion of her...

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The Black Room

as Lt. Albert Lussan
Released: 1935-07-15

In a 16th-century European town, the ruling family has been given a prophecy that, should there...

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Thrill of a Romance

as Member of Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (uncredited)
Released: 1945-05-23

A soldier falls in love with a newly-married woman after her husband abandons her for a business...

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Craig's Wife

as Gene Fredericks
Released: 1936-09-25

Harriet, Walter Craig's wife, is an upper-class woman obsessed with control, material...

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Raiders of the Living Dead

as Dr. Carstairs
Released: 1986-03-09

In an abandoned prison, a doctor has revived executed convicts as the living dead. Teenager,...

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Law of the Ranger

as Ranger Bob Allen
Released: 1937-05-11

Working undercover, Rangers Bob and Wally arrive to take up ranching. Out to stop them is Bill...

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Menace

as Andrew Forsythe
Released: 1934-11-22

A psychotic man stalks three innocent people whom he believes are responsible for his brother's...

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Air Hawks

as Bill Lewis
Released: 1935-05-07

A small, independent air delivery service is menaced by a mad scientist with a death ray...

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Gateway

as Reporter
Released: 1938-08-05

Irish immigrant meets returning war correspondent on a liner bound for New York. When she...

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Kentucky

as Man Dancing with Sally (uncredited)
Released: 1938-12-30

Young lovers Jack and Sally are from families that compete to send horses to the 1938 Kentucky...

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The Unknown Ranger

as Bob Allen
Released: 1936-09-15

Bob Allen in his starring debut gets a job on Wright's ranch where he hopes to find the rustlers...

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Social Register

as Socialite (uncredited)
Released: 1934-03-10

Chorus girl Patsy Shaw crashes a high-society party, meets playboy Charlie Breen, they fall in...

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Hold 'Em Navy

as Midshipman
Released: 1937-11-04

Two football players fight over the same girl.

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Tail Spin

as Charlie
Released: 1939-02-19

Trixie is a female pilot looking to win a big race to advance her career. During one race,...

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City of Chance

as Fred Walcott
Released: 1940-01-13

Texas girl goes to New York, becomes a newspaper reporter, and tries to get her gambler...

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Death Flies East

as Baker
Released: 1935-02-28

Evelyn Vail (Florence Rice) is a nurse convicted of poisoning a patient. Out on parole, Evelyn...

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Let's Get Married

as Charles
Released: 1937-04-14

Let's Get Married is a 1937 American comedy film starring Ida Lupino, who plays the daughter of...

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Rio Grande Ranger

as Bob Allen
Released: 1936-12-11

Sayres and his outlaw gang operate out of a town just across the border and out of the...

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Keep Smiling

as Stanley Harper
Released: 1938-08-12

Jane breaks into the film business while also reviving the flagging career of her film director...

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Law Beyond the Range

as Johnny Kane
Released: 1935-02-15

Tim is dismissed from the Rangers for letting his friend Kane who is accused of murder escape....

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Everybody's Baby

as Dick Lane
Released: 1939-03-24

The Jones family encounters new theories of childrearing when an author arrives in town to...

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The Rangers Step In

as Bob Allen
Released: 1937-08-08

Tom Martin wants to buy the Jed Warren ranch as he knows the railroad wants it for the...

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Love Me Forever

as Phillip Cameron
Released: 1935-06-28

A man who loves an aspiring opera singer is prepared to sacrifice everything to help her with...

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The Captain Hates the Sea

as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
Released: 1934-11-02

Alcoholic newspaperman Steve Bramley boards the San Capador for a restful cruise, hoping to quit...

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Party Wire

as Roy Daniels
Released: 1935-04-27

When a small-town girl's boyfriend leaves in disgrace, gossips spread false reports of her...

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Meet the Girls

as Charles Tucker
Released: 1938-10-06

Entertainers lose their jobs and their fares from Honolulu back to San Francisco so they must...

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The Quarterback

as Football Player (uncredited)
Released: 1926-10-11

Elmer Stone, quarterback of the 1899 Colton College football team vows to remain a student until...

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Girl in Danger

as Reporter (uncredited)
Released: 1934-09-11

Inspector Steve Trent tracks the stolen Cortez emerald, last pilfered by a murdered gangster.

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Racetrack

as Bit Role (uncredited)
Released: 1933-02-25

Joe Tomasso is an Italian-American bookmaker and gambler who, outwardly, is hard but...

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Reckless Ranger

as Jim Allen / Bob Allen
Released: 1937-05-29

When Jim Allen is lynched, his identical twin brother Bob, a Texas Ranger, takes his place in an...

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White Lies

as Arthur Bradford
Released: 1935-12-27

A powerful publisher John Mitchell whose pursuit of sensational headlines at the expense of all...

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Jealousy

as Jim Rainey
Released: 1934-11-23

Larry O'Roark is a boxer who's insanely posssesive and jealous of his fiancee, Jo. the sight of...

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Big Business Girl

as Graduate at Dance (uncredited)
Released: 1931-06-12

A young woman goes to New York and finds success in advertising thanks to her legs while her...

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Winter Carnival

as Rocky Morgan
Released: 1939-07-28

A divorced glamour girl keeps warm with a professor amid sports and romance at Dartmouth...

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Party Husband

as uncredited
Released: 1931-06-06

Party Husband finds ex-Ziegfield Girl Dorothy playing the better half of a thoroughly “modern...

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Guard That Girl

as Larry Donovan
Released: 1935-11-02

Attorney Joshua Scranton hires "Budge" Edwards and Larry Donovan, who has just bought into...

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Fighting Shadows

as Constable Bob Rutledge
Released: 1935-04-18

Mountie Tim O'Hara is sent to Indian River to investigate a fur trading racket. But he quickly...

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The Reckless Hour

as Hal - Allen's Friend (uncredited)
Released: 1931-08-15

Seduced and abandoned, with child, by a charming cad, a former New York fashion model learns to...

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Pie in the Sky

as Brill's Father
Released: 1964-01-01

Rural runaway finds himself in Manhattan.

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The Revenge Rider

as Chad Harmon
Released: 1935-03-18

Cowboy Tim McCoy becomes an instrument of revenge when he discovers his parents have been killed.

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I'll Love You Always

as Joe
Released: 1935-03-19

Nora Clegg, an actress, marries Carl Brent, an unemployed young engineer, whose estimation of...

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Winner Take All

as Tom Walker
Released: 1939-03-29

When a waiter makes a lucky hit and wins a benefit prizefight, gamblers rig some fights for him;...

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Ranger Courage

as Bob Allen
Released: 1937-01-10

The Harper wagon train is carrying money and Bull and his gang are after it. When their first...

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Naked City

as Chief Attorney (uncredited)
First aired: 1958-09-30

Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network....

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Omnibus

as uncredited
First aired: 1952-11-09

Omnibus is an American, commercially sponsored, educational television series.

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Tales of Tomorrow

as uncredited
First aired: 1951-08-03

Tales of Tomorrow is an American anthology science fiction series that was performed and...

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