Alta Allen (born Alta Crowin) (September 6, 1904 – July 24, 1998) was an American actress.

Early years

Allen was born as Alta Crowin in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in 1904 to a Scottish mother, Jessie (née Robertson), and W. J. Crowin, who hailed from the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. She made her first professional performance at an Oakland theater in a production of

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Little Men'' (1871) and ''Jo's Boys'' (1886). Raised in ...

's ''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Alcott wrote the book, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives ...

''. Allen's role in this production was as

Beth March ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Alcott wrote the book, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives ...

. She was ten years old at the time. Allen was "one of the most popular of Oakland's younger social set."

Career

Allen's early professional experience included acting in stock theater in Oakland and directing and performing in the Fairmont's ''Rainbow Lane'' revue. AltaAllen

In 1920, William Fox, the founder of the

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film ...

, observed Allen as she performed the leading role at a musical revue within the Fairmont Hotel.''American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929'' p. 381 Subsequently, she signed a contract with his studios, although she would only perform one role in any

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

released by Fox Film: the 1921 comedy ''

Skirts A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fi ...

''. She would subsequently sign a contract with

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, and later appeared in several films released by this corporation, including ''The Marriage Chance'' (1922), and ''

A Self-Made Failure ''A Self-Made Failure'' is a 1924 American silent comedy film distributed by Associated First National Pictures, later First National Pictures. It was directed by William Beaudine and starred silent comic Lloyd Hamilton and then child actor B ...

'' (1924). Her final credited screen appearance occurred in 1926, as Thora Barton in the cast of '' The Set-Up''.

Personal life and death

On November 25, 1920, Allen married actor,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and director

Hampton Del Ruth Hampton Del Ruth (September 7, 1879 – May 15, 1958) was an American film actor, director, screenwriter, and film producer. Among other work, he wrote the intertitles In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filme ...

(the couple later divorced). She died of

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...

at her Boonsboro home on June 24, 1998, the age of 93.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Alta American silent film actresses Actresses from Oakland, California 1904 births 1998 deaths American people of Scottish descent 20th-century American actresses