Allen Jenkins

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Allen Jenkins (* 9. April 1900 in Staten Iceland , New York as David Allen Curtis Jenkins , † 20 July 1974 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American actor.

life and career

All Jenkins parents worked as actors in musical comedies in New York. After attending school, Jenkins initially worked for the United States during World War I , and later worked as a set designer . It was through this work that he found his first interest in acting and soon after studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts . Jenkins made his Broadway debut in December 1922 at the age of 22 in the play Secrets, and in the next few years he would appear in other plays on Broadway. In 1928 he played in the original line-up of the Broadway hit The Front Page and in 1931 he replaced Spencer Tracy for three weeks in The Last Mile .

He made his film debut in 1931 in the short film Stright and Narrow , his breakthrough came a little later with the gangster film Hunt for James A. and the musical comedy The 42nd Street . Mostly he embodied simple-minded funny guys with their hearts in the right place; often in roles as a gangster, taxi driver or police officer. Overall, Jenkins appeared in so many Warner Brothers films in the 1930s that he was jokingly called the “fifth Warner Brother”. He was friends with his film colleagues James Cagney , Frank McHugh and Pat O'Brien , who were also known collectively as the "Irish Mafia". He was also a member of the Screen Actors Guild . In 1939 he had a supporting role alongside Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart in the western comedy The Great Bluff. In parallel with his professional successes, Jenkins was an alcoholic in his private life for a long time and could only handle his money poorly. He went public with his illness and founded the first Alcoholics Anonymous Association in California.

After a deployment in World War II , Jenkins was unable to build on earlier successes due to his alcohol problems and mostly had to be content with appearances in B-films or TV series. On television he had a supporting role in the sitcom Hey, Jeannie (1956). At the side of Doris Day and Rock Hudson , he appeared as an elevator boy in the comedy Bettgeflüster (1959). In the 1960s, Jenkins suffered from increasing blindness and was therefore barely able to work as an actor because his freedom of movement on the film set and on the stages was severely restricted. In the meantime, Jenkins worked as a toolmaker and car salesman, sometimes also in illegal work . In 1974 Billy Wilder gave him a small appearance as a telegraph operator in his comedy Extrablatt , a remake of The Front Page , in which Jenkins had starred 46 years earlier in the original cast.

Just eleven days after these scenes were filmed, Jenkins died of lung cancer at the age of 74. He was married to Mary Landee, with whom he had three children. His body was cremated .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Allen Jenkins  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Allen Jenkins on matineeclassics.com (English) ( Memento from July 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b Allen Jenkins. New York Times, accessed February 13, 2014 (quoted from the All Movie Guide).
  3. ↑ Kenneth McNeil: Allen Jenkins. Find A Grave, January 16, 2003, accessed February 13, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Jenkins, Allen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jenkins, David Allen Curtis (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Staten Island , New York
DATE OF DEATH 20th July 1974
Place of death Santa Monica , California