Michael Allan Warren (born 26 October 1948) is an English

portrait photographer Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Frequentl ...

, primarily known for his images of members of high society. An actor and talent manager in his youth, he rose to prominence for portraits of

British nobility The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the (landed) gentry. The nobility of its four constituent home nations has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although now they retain only the rights to stand for election ...

, politicians, and celebrities. His subjects include

Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative politician who se ...

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cin ...

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...

and

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage ...

Early life and education

After growing up in post-war London with his mother, Warren attended Terry's Juveniles, a stage school based in the

Drury Lane Theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

. It was during this period that he attended auditions through which he received several assignments. One such piece of work was as a child presenter in "The Five O'clock Club", which afforded him the opportunity to associate with individuals such as

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted int ...

(then performing as "Toby Tyler"), who would later employ Warren as his first manager.

Career

Warren started his photographic career at the age of 20, when he was acting in

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and tw ...

's play '' Forty Years On'' with

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...

in the West End at the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

. Around this time, Warren bought his first second-hand camera and began to take photographs of his fellow actors. His first major assignment was in 1969 when his friend

Mickey Deans Michael DeVinko, Jr. (September 24, 1934 – July 11, 2003), known as Mickey Deans, was an American musician and entrepreneur, and the fifth husband and widower of actress and singer Judy Garland. Early life Born Michael DeVinko in Garfield, Ne ...

asked him to cover his wedding to

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

, which marked the beginning of Warren's work as a professional photographer. After this decisive event, Warren embarked on his photography career, throughout which he took portraits of personalities including many actors, writers, musicians, politicians and members of the British royal family.The Confessions of a Society Photographer – Allan Warren (Jupiter, London, 1976) Nobs & Nosh : Eating with the Beautiful People – Allan Warren (Leslie Frewin, London, 1974) In the early 1980s Warren embarked on a quest to photograph all 30 British dukes.''The Spectator'', 3 April 1999 Together with

Angus Montagu, 12th Duke of Manchester Angus Charles Drogo Montagu, 12th Duke of Manchester (Kimbolton Castle, 9 October 1938 – 25 July 2002), was a British hereditary peer. He inherited the Dukedom of Manchester in 1985 and was a member of the House of Lords until the House of Lor ...

he set up the Duke's Trust, a charity for children in need. Warren has uploaded many pictures from his archive to Wikimedia Commons. In the early 1990s, Warren embarked on writing plays. One of his works, ''The Lady of Phillimore Walk'', was directed by Frank Dunlop and critics went as far as comparing it to ''Sleuth'', a thriller written by Anthony Shaffer. The cast of ''The Lady of Phillimore Walk'' consisted of

Zena Walker Zena Cecilia Walker (7 March 1934 – 24 August 2003) was an English actress in film, theatre and television. Biography Walker was born in the Selly Oak district of Birmingham, the daughter of George Walker, a grocer, and his wife Elizabeth L ...

and

Philip Lowrie Colin Philip Lowrie (born 20 June 1936) is an English former stage and television actor, best known for playing Dennis Tanner in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', from the programme's inception in 1960–1968, and again fro ...

; and saw productions in the United States. Warren invented the Hankybreathe, a handkerchief which allows the user to inhale air through a carbon filter at the mouth, to filter out the noxious effects of exhaust emissions. The invention, which is meant to be dabbed in

eucalyptus oil Eucalyptus oil is the generic name for distilled oil from the leaf of ''Eucalyptus'', a genus of the plant family Myrtaceae native to Australia and cultivated worldwide. Eucalyptus oil has a history of wide application, as a pharmaceutical, anti ...

, harks back to the nosegay and stems from Warren's experience with

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...

in heavily polluted London.

Gallery

File:Dionne Warwick Allan Warren.jpg,

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

File:Noel Coward Allan warren edit 1.jpg, Noël Coward, 1972 File:Dali Allan Warren.jpg, Salvador Dalí, 1972 File:Gloria Swanson Allan Warren.jpg, Gloria Swanson, 1972 File:Britt Ekland 1972.jpg,

Britt Ekland Britt Ekland (; born Britt-Marie Eklund; 6 October 1942) is a Swedish actress, model and singer. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in '' The Double Man'' (1967), ''The Night They Raided ...

, 1972 File:HRH_Prince_Charles_43_Allan_Warren.jpg,

, 1972

Bibliography

*''Nobs & Nosh – Eating with the Beautiful People'', 1975 *''Confessions of a Society Photographer'', 1976 *''The Dukes of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

'', 1986 *''The Lady of Phillimore Walk (play)'', 1991 *''Dukes, Queens and Other Stories'', 1999 *''Strangers in the Buff'', August 2007 *''Carpet Dwellers'', October 2007 *''Nein Camp'', December 2012 *''Stand By To Repel All Boarders'', December 2014 *''The Lady of Phillimore Walk'', 2015 *''The Matching Pair Part 1: No Good Deed'', 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Allan 1948 births Living people English male stage actors English dramatists and playwrights English memoirists British portrait photographers Male actors from London Writers from London Photographers from London People from Wimbledon, London English male dramatists and playwrights English male non-fiction writers