Elizabeth Allen, a leading actress on Broadway and in movies who got her start as the “Away we go!” girl on “The Jackie Gleason Show” in the 1950’s, died Sept. 19 in Fishkill, N.Y. She was 77.
The cause was kidney failure, her sister-in-law, Marion Gillease, said.
Ms. Allen played major roles in five Broadway shows and in six movies, appeared on numerous television shows, including “Kojak” and “Mannix,” and sang at the Stork Club in New York. She was twice nominated for Tony Awards: in 1962 for best featured actress in a musical in “The Gay Life,” and in 1965 for best actress in a musical in “Do I Hear a Waltz?”
In 1953, she tried out for a bit part on the Gleason show and was chosen instead to introduce the program with what became its trademark proclamation, “And away we go!”
Ms. Allen also portrayed the strange department store saleswoman in "The Twilight Zone" (1959) episode featuring Anne Francis as a mannequin who became a live woman for a month.
“I hated being remembered as the ‘Away we go!’ girl,” Ms. Allen once said. “Now I love it, because so many people liked it. It’s flattering.”
TV SERIES
"The Guiding Light" (1952) TV Series .... Dr. Gwen Harding (1983)
"Texas" (1980) TV Series .... Victoria Bellman (1980-1982)
"Another World" (1964) TV Series .... Victoria Bellman (1980)
"C.P.O. Sharkey" (1976) TV Series .... Capt. Quinlan
"The Paul Lynde Show" (1972) TV Series .... Martha Simms
"Bracken's World" (1969) TV Series .... Laura Deane
"The Jackie Gleason Show"..... The "Away We Go" Girl
TV RECURRING ROLES
"Dr. Kildare"..... Katherine West
- No Other Road (1966)
- I Can Hear the Ice Melting (1966)
- Some Tales for Halloween (1966)
- A Few Hearts, a Few Flowers
TV GUEST APPEARANCES
"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"
- Return of the Fighting 69th (1979) TV Episode .... Roxanne Trent
"Cannon"
- Nightmare (1975) TV Episode .... Arlene Thompson Richards
"Kojak"
- Therapy in Dynamite (1974) TV Episode .... Louise Linden
"The ABC Afternoon Playbreak"
- Mother of the Bride (1974) TV Episode .... Amy Whitman
"Faraday and Company"
- Fire and Ice (1973) TV Episode .... Ms.
"Mannix"
- Days Beyond Recall (1971) TV Episode .... Westy Westcott
"The Young Lawyers"
- Conrad and the Taxi Squad (1971) TV Episode .... Doris Pierce
"The High Chaparral"
- The Glory Soldiers (1969) TV Episode .... Sister Ellie Strong
"The Fugitive"
- The Evil Men Do (1966) TV Episode .... Sharon
- Detour on a Road Going Nowhere (1964) TV Episode .... Louanne Crowell
- Terror at High Point (1963) TV Episode .... Ruth Harmon
"The F.B.I."
- The Death Wind (1966) TV Episode .... Gloria Jennerson
"The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
- The Waverly Ring Affair (1966) TV Episode .... Carla Drosten
"The Reporter"
- The Lost Lady Blues (1964) TV Episode .... Belle Sommers
"Slattery's People"
- Question: What Is Truth? (1964) TV Episode .... Pat Russell
"Burke's Law"
- Who Killed What's His Name? (1964) TV Episode .... Miss Elizabeth Dunwoody
- Who Killed Holly Howard? (1963) TV Episode .... Sophia, Burke's Girlfriend
"Naked City"
- Barefoot on a Bed of Coals (1963) TV Episode .... Ola
- Golden Lads and Girls (1963) TV Episode .... Laura
- The Man Who Bit a Diamond in Half (1960) TV Episode .... Emily Kanopolis
"Stoney Burke"
- Kelly's Place (1963) TV Episode .... Kelly
"Combat!"
- No Hallelujahs for Glory (1963) TV Episode .... Eleanora Hunt
"Ben Casey"
- Suffer the Little Children (1963) TV Episode .... Dr. Alison Blake
"Alcoa Premiere"
- The Fugitive Eye (1961) TV Episode .... Nurse
"Thriller"
- The Grim Reaper (1961) TV Episode .... Dorothy Lyndon
- The Hungry Glass (1961) TV Episode .... Liz Talmadge
"Checkmate"
- The Murder Game (1960) TV Episode .... Cora
"The Twilight Zone"
- The After Hours (1960) TV Episode .... Saleswoman
"Tales of Wells Fargo"
- Threat of Death (1960) TV Episode .... Ilona
TV MOVIES
No Other Love (1979) (TV) .... Jean Michaels
The Carey Treatment (1972) .... Evelyn Randall
Star Spangled Girl (1971) .... Landlady
A few Toobworld notes...
If only she appeared on just one more soap opera as her character of Victoria Bellman, then she would have been eligible for membership in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame......
Because of the age of the actor who played Amos Burke's son in the 1990s return of 'Burke's Law', none of the police commissioner's girlfriends seen on the original show could ever have been Peter Burke's mother. So Ms. Allen's character of Sophia, like all the other women (including Mary Ann Summers of 'Gilligan's Island'!), dated Burke after his wife passed away.
Back on February 4th, I mentioned Miss Allen's episode of 'Combat!' here in the blog. "No Hallelujiahs For Glory" contribued two pieces of trivia to the TV Universe: World Magazine, a nice generic title that should show up elsewhere in other shows, and the title for Eleanora Hunt's article, "Trois Anges (The Life And Death Of A French Village").
BCnU....
Tele-Toby
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