Irwin Allen

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Irwin Allen (born June 12, 1916 in New York City , USA ; † November 2, 1991 in Santa Monica , California , USA) was an American film producer who was known as Master of Disaster in the 1970s through several disaster films .

Life

After completing his studies, Irwin Allen went to Hollywood in 1938 as editor of a magazine. He produced his own radio show between 1939 and 1950. He was also the director and responsible for the script.

He first appeared as a film producer for the RKO in 1950 . Between 1956 and 1957 he made two films for Warner Bros. After a circus film for Allied Artists Pictures, he entered into a longstanding partnership with 20th Century Fox in 1960 . His first directorial work, the documentary The Sea Around Us , won an Oscar for best documentary in 1953. Rachel Carson , the author of the book, was disappointed with the sensational elements of the film. His second directorial work followed in 1956 with the documentary Die Tierwelt ruft , in which he had a dinosaur sequence animated by Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen using stop-motion technology . He switched to the feature film and, in addition to the production, also took over the direction of the next five films, which were made between 1957 and 1962. The special effects for the Arthur Conan Doyle film version Sunken World were made to match those of the film Journey to the Center of the Earth . The science fiction film Firebelt was followed in 1962 by the Jules Verne film Five Weeks in a Balloon . He also wrote the script for all of this directorial work.

He switched to television in the 1960s as a producer, screenwriter and director. He began science fiction and adventure series such as The Seaview - In a Secret Mission (1964-1968), Disappearance Between Alien Worlds (1965-1968), Time Tunnel (1966-1967) and Planet of the Giants (1968-1970) to produce. In order to save costs, special effects from his earlier films were cut into the series or props were reused several times for the various series.

After the success of Airport , Allen saw the potential for more disaster films and he produced Poseidon's Hell Ride with 20th Century Fox. Flammendes Inferno , a joint production of Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, was realized with even greater effort . These films were successful and are still considered the epitome of disaster films. In both productions, the action scenes came from Allen himself. He switched to Warner Bros. and, after the production of the action film Viva Knievel, shot the disaster films The Deadly Swarm and Hunt for the Poseidon , which failed despite a large star cast at the box office . Allen's last contribution to the cinema was the Warner Bros. production The Day the World Ended .

Despite having returned to the cinema, his television work continued with science fiction and adventure films such as At 9 o'clock the earth goes under (1971) and Adventure in Atlantis (1978). He brought the disaster film with The flood breaks loose (1976) and Bloody Inferno (1977) to the TV room at home. The start for short-lived television series was laid with Die Schweizer Familie Robinson (1975) and Code Red (1981). His television career eventually ended with Alice in Wonderland (1985) and Cry For Justice (1986).

Irwin Allen died of heart failure on November 2, 1991 in Santa Monica, California.

He was married to Sheila Ann Mathews, who also played minor roles in some of his films.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Allen, Irwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American television and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1991
Place of death Santa Monica , California