Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo (July 3, 1926 – April 6, 2022), professionally known as Rae Allen, was an American actress of stage, film and television. Her career spanned some seventy years and eight decades. Allen started her career in theatre in 1941 in a production of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

and made her debut on Broadway in 1948, moving to television and film roles in 1958, making her screen debut in ''

Damn Yankees ''Damn Yankees'' is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., d ...

''. She appeared in numerous guest roles in TV shows, but she was best known of recurring parts in sitcom ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

'' (1972–1973) and in ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

''. Her film roles included '' A League of Their Own'' (1992) and ''

Stargate ''Stargate'' is a military science fiction media franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It is based on Stargate (film), the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin; production company StudioCanal owns the ...

''.

Early life

Allen was born as Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City, on July 3, 1926, 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''. Rae Allen trained at the

HB Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency prog ...

HB Studio alumni
hbstudio.org. Accessed April 7, 2022. in New York City's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

. She graduated from the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

in 1947. She was first married to John M. Allen and then divorced; and later married and divorced, politician Herbert Harris.

Death

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.

Theatre

Allen was nominated for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

three times: for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for ''

'' 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 ''

'' in the film adaptation, in both of which she introduced the song "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo."

Film and television

Allen appeared in such films as '' Reign Over Me'', '' A League of Their Own'', ''

'', and '' Where's Poppa?'' On television, she appeared on two consecutive episodes of ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'' as unemployment counselor Lenore Sokol, who must deal with

George Costanza George Louis Costanza is a fictional character in the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), played by Jason Alexander. He is a short, stocky, balding man who struggles with numerous insecurities, often dooming his romantic rel ...

, 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'', ''

'', '' Car 54 Where Are You'', '' Head of the Class'', '' Remington Steele'', ''

'', and ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

''.

Broadway theatre

Selected roles

* ''

'' (1954–1955) * '' The Pajama Game'' (1954–1956) * '' Oliver!'' (1963–1964) * '' On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' (1965) * ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

'' * '' And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little'' (for which she won the 1971 Tony Award for Supporting Actress) * ''

Dude ''Dude'' is Regional vocabularies of American English, American slang for an individual, typically male. From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a dandy) or a conspicuous ...

'' (1972)

Filmography

Film and television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Rae 1926 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American people of Italian descent Actresses from Brooklyn Musicians from Brooklyn Tony Award winners