
Ronald Allen
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ronald Allen (16 December 1930 [some sources say 1934] in Reading, Berkshire – 18 June 1991) was an established English character actor. He studied at Leighton Park School in Reading and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, worked in repertory theatre, had a season at the Old Vic, London and made several films, including the Titanic classic A Night to Remember, as well as achieving fame as a soap opera star. After roles in the BBC soaps United! and Compact during the 1960s came his most famous role, in the long-running Crossroads. Allen played David Hunter, who, together with Meg Mortimer, Tish Hope and Bernard Booth, was a shareholder of the Crossroads Motel. He appeared in the series from 1969 to 1985. He also twice appeared as a lead actor in the science fiction programme Doctor Who, in the stories The Dominators (1968) and The Ambassadors of Death (1970). Ronald Allen also made a number of guest appearances in The Comic Strip Presents. In the first episode, Five Go Mad in Dorset (1982), which spoofed Enid Blyton's The Famous Five stories, he makes a surprise appearance as Uncle Quentin; deliberately sending up his staid image, he most memorably told The Famous Five, "Your Aunt Fanny is an unrelenting nymphomaniac – and I am a screaming homosexual." (The show's TV Times entry had listed him as "Surprise Guest"). Allen reprised the role in the sequel Five Go Mad on Mescalin (1983), and also appeared in South Atlantic Raiders Part 2 (1990), The Strike (1988) and Oxford (1990), in addition to the feature film The Supergrass (1985). There was much comic mileage to be gained from Allen sending up his ultra-conservative image. In a 1987 interview, he said that he was approached by a very intimidating-looking punk. He shook his hand and said, "I thought you were really cool in The Supergrass." Then, as he was about to walk away, he turned back and said, almost apologetically, "I loved you in Crossroads too!" Other roles included television's The Adventures of Robin Hood (1957), Danger Man (1960, 1961), Bergerac (1990) and The Avengers (1964). Ronald Allen lived for many years with the actor Brian Hankins, who also appeared in Crossroads. He was also very close friends with his co-star and on-screen wife, Sue Lloyd. When the British media started to intrude into their private lives, they made it known they were a couple. After Allen was told that his cancer was terminal, they married. He died three months later, aged 60. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ronald Allen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Known For

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.
Bergerac

Crossroads is a British television soap opera set in a fictional motel near Birmingham, England. Created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, the commercial ITV network originally broadcast the series between 1964 and 1988. Produced by ATV and later by Central it became a byword for cheap production values, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s. The series was revived in a glossier version by Carlton Television in 2001, but was again cancelled in 2003. The original theme tune was composed by Tony Hatch, and notably covered by Paul McCartney & Wings on their 1975 album Venus and Mars. A new version, which was first aired in 1987 when the series was relaunched as Crossroads, Kings Oak, was composed by Raf Ravenscroft and Max Early.
Crossroads

The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who do parodies of films, literature and sometimes major events.
The Comic Strip Presents...

Danger Man is a British television series which was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the programme and wrote many of the scripts. Danger Man was financed by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.
Danger Man
Drama 61-67 is anthology drama series which took a different title, based on year of transmission, each year. It alternated with Armchair Theatre from ABC in the Sunday evening slot. The series was described at the time as epitomising ATV drama.
Drama 61-67

18 short plays written especially for TV, an opportunity for up-and-coming directors such as floor manager Alan Clarke, who ended up doing 10 of the episodes. Some top ranking performers were attracted to the series.
Half Hour Story

The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspective of the ocean liner's second officer, Charles Lightoller. Despite numerous warnings about ice, the ship sails on, with Capt. Edward John Smith keeping it going at a steady clip. When the doomed vessel finally hits an iceberg, the crew and passengers discover that they lack enough lifeboats, and tragedy follows.
A Night to Remember

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.
Armchair Theatre

Alex is a disgruntled waiter at a snobby exclusive restaurant who falls on hard times. Forced to deal with the contempt and disgust of the upper class, Alex & cohorts attempt to go on a rampage. Meanwhile, General Karprov and Spider plot to involve the inept anarchists into their plans to derail the prime-minister-to-be's campaign.
Eat the Rich

Matter-transmitter sabotage leaves a British scientist (Bryant Halliday) disfigured and full of amps.
The Projected Man

In the conclusion of this special two-part story, Stan has somehow managed to make it to the Falklands, which have indeed been taken over by the Argentinians after all. He is tied to a stake alongside Frances who he has finally met and been captured with. The pair are sentenced to death by dictator, General Galtieri. Stan, in a desperate attempt to stall for time, recounts how he and his fellow 'South Atlantic Raiders' managed to make it to the Falklands. After just escaping from prison and making their getaway in an ice cream van.
South Atlantic Raiders: Part 2 Argie Bargie!

A war drama of motor torpedo boats which did much unsung work in WW2, but the naval battles merely provide an exciting story in which an even more special romantic drama is wrapped up.
Hell Boats

Astronauts rescued from a mission to mars are kidnapped when they arrive back on earth. They seem to have been irradiated, and can now kill people merely by touching them. But the Doctor discovers the astronauts have been replaced with Alien ambassadors who are being forced to behave in a hostile manner. With The Doctor traveling to the alien mother ship, and Liz kidnapped, The Brigadier is left wondering who to trust.
Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death

While taking a holiday in the country with his mother, Dennis hits on a scheme to impress a girl so that she'll go away on a trip with him as his girlfriend. Although he fails to gain any interest from the girl, the police take a great interest in his story. From this point on, Dennis digs a deeper hole for himself at every turn
The Supergrass

Led by a sinister minister, a controlling religious sect called the Brethren has taken control of widow Birdy Wemys, sending her unstable son, Kenny, into a spiraling descent into madness and murder. No woman is safe when Kenny's religious mania overpowers him and leads to a rampage of carnage and chaos!
The Fiend

In the 1950s, four children, Anne, described as a 'proper little housewife', the rather butch George who has an unhealthy relationship with her dog Timmy and their brothers Dick and Julian, whose relationship seems to be more than fraternal, go on a cycling holiday in Dorset where their flair for detection - plus their snobbery and xenophobia - gets a whole string of suspicious characters arrested.
Five Go Mad in Dorset

Paul, a former miner, writes a hard-hitting screenplay about his own experiences of the 1984 miners' strike. However, the Hollywood production company that gets hold of his script turns it into a ludicrously sensationalist and anachronistic action film, starring Al Pacino as Arthur Scargill, and Meryl Streep as his wife.
The Strike

When American comic actor Steve 'Zoo Zoo Zoo Off Come My Pants' Wild arrives in Oxford to make a comedy film, his girlfriend Caroline goes behind his back to enroll in a poetry course. Meanwhile, Hannah Van Hosenstratt comes from New Orleans for the course and is tricked into believing she has a place by the dean, but the professor has other ideas.
Oxford

Unbeknownst to him, a soldier is sent on a doomed mission because of the high likelihood of him divulging secrets if captured and tortured.