Elizabeth Allan

Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1910 – 27 July 1990) was an English stage and film actress who worked in both Britain and Hollywood, where she appeared in 50 films. Life and career Allan was born in Skegness, Lincolnshire in 1910 and educated in Darlington, County Durham. At age 17, she made her stage debut at the Old Vic. She made her film debut four years later in Alibi. She appeared in a number of films for Julius Hagen's Twickenham Studios, but was also featured in Gainsborough's Michael and Mary and Korda's Service for Ladies. In 1932 she married agent Wilfrid J. O'Bryen, to whom she was introduced by actor Herbert Marshall; they were together until his death in 1977. Her first US/UK co-production and first US production came in 1933, and she worked in the United States under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1935 was her most memorable year in Hollywood, when she not only distinguished herself in two memorable Dickens' adaptations as David's unfortunate young mother in George Cukor's David Copperfield and as Lucie Manette in Jack Conway's A Tale of Two Cities, but was also featured in Tod Browning's Mark of the Vampire.