Patrick Allen (1927-2006) R.I.P.

[para]

Is SARAH LAWSON still alive?

Yes phil she is

[earlb]

I have just come across this forum

As One of Patricks Sons I would like to say a thank you for such kind words.

Nice to see you on here. I worked with your Dad for many years at Radio Luxembourg. In fact at one stage he offered me the job of running his sound studio which Unfortunately I never took up.

[batman]

It's great that Patrick has found some new fans through the DVD release of Dangerous Knowledge. Several people I have spoken to (and who knew little or nothing of Patrick)watched the series recently and were impressed by his performance. I have watched him in a few dvds recently (Bullet to Beijing/Dangerous Knowledge/The Sea Wolves/Who Dares Wins/The Wild Geese) and he was always good value. One of my favourite Patrick Allen perfromances is opposite Victor Mature in The Long Haul .... he was a splendid villain in that one!

[Azanti]

I met Patrick Allen briefly two years before he died, at sadly another funeral. He was a very nice chap and seemed in very good health. I guess not.

[para]

Nice to see you on here. I worked with your Dad for many years at Radio Luxembourg. In fact at one stage he offered me the job of running his sound studio which Unfortunately I never took up.

I am guessing that to be John Wood Studios or Provideo

[earlb]

I am guessing that to be John Wood Studios or Provideo

Yes you guess right, that's would be the John Wood Studios, so I presume when I declined he approached John. John and I both worked in Wardour Street at the time. I'm pleased to see your contributions here and keeping your Dad's name to the forefront, A very fine, likeable and a true gentleman. Thank you.

[para]

Yes you guess right, that's would be the John Wood Studios, so I presume when I declined he approached John. John and I both worked in Wardour Street at the time. I'm pleased to see your contributions here and keeping your Dad's name to the forefront, A very fine, likeable and a true gentleman. Thank you.

Thank you for such kind words

[cornershop15]

TVTimes cover star, 24th October 1964

I hope Patrick's son returns. A revival of this thread is long overdue, more than a year after our last contributions. It's fascinating looking through these old issues but also very depressing, knowing that at least half of what was shown back then is long lost. Crane is another one of those shows where there's almost nothing left (37 out of 39 episodes are "missing"). A great injustice. The episode shown that week was Death Is a Closed Door:

Guests included Sandor Eles and Robin Chapman, who later created Spindoe and Big Breadwinner Hog.

My most recent viewing of Patrick was in the Man in a Suitcase episode The Whisper, with Colin Blakely.

[Gerald Lovell]

CRANE remains one of my earlier memories of television in the 60s - I particularly recall an episode about a missing child and the ruse of using a doll to mislead Crane. I think this was the episode called "Epitaph for a Fat Woman" (tx: 20.01.1964), which I will never see again as it is inevitably one of the 37 "missing" episodes.

On a happier note, here is Patrick in one of my favourite roles for him, as the determined but ultimately respectful Captain Collier in the closing scene of Captain Clegg (1962), aka Night Creatures:

[Arfur Teacake]

Crane apparently was a proper studio/location series (instead of a buy one get one free, cheapo back projection type series like The Saint) which makes it even sadder that it is all lost

[Elaine]

Crane was a favourite series of mine. I watched it religiously. I always associate Patrick Allen with the series.

[wadey]

I've said it before but what a wonderful voice

[Arfur Teacake]

Gave a sharp,powerful edge to the UFO ep 'Timelash'

[Zlatna]

A publicity photo of Patrick Allen with Hannah Gordon, presumably from "Brett" in 1971 where she played his French mistress "Francoise" in many of the episodes.

[cornershop15]

A lovely picture, Zlatna. Many thanks. And to Gerald for the screencap. Tellingly, I Knew of Brett, being a TV fanatic, but not Captain Clegg

Another impressive publicity still of Patrick, as Miles Hallin in The Saint episode The Man Who Could Not Die (1965):

Directed by and, of course, starring Roger Moore. They were reunited in The Wild Geese and The Sea Wolves.

[didi-5]

Gave a bit of class to whatever he was in, be it The Black Adder, an Edgar Wallace Mystery, Sherlock Holmes' Empty House, Hard Times, or even as the voice of E4 when it launched. Always fondly remembered by me as the man from Barrett Homes as well. And through my adventures in archive TV I am stumbling across more and more of his work.

[wellendcanons]

A lovely picture, Zlatna. Many thanks. And to Gerald for the screencap. Tellingly, I Knew of Brett, being a TV fanatic, but not Captain Clegg

Another impressive publicity still of Patrick, as Miles Hallin in The Saint episode The Man Who Could Not Die (1965):

Directed by and, of course, starring Roger Moore. They were reunited in The Wild Geese and The Sea Wolves.

Great screencap Cornershop. Another Saint episode I'm shortly due to watch and one I haven't seen since I was a child!

Patrick popped up in an episode of Van Der Valk which I watched recently. He was an excellent actor.

wec

wec

[johng]

And we musn't forget Crane a wonderful series

[Flare Players]

Years ago, I worked on a short film which required a narrator and my first thought was "let's get Patrick Allen". Some of the rest of the crew didn't know who he was and one person said he was dead. In the end we got Alexander Armstrong and when he asked me in what style we wanted the narration I tentatively said "something like Patrick Allen". His eyes lit up and he smiled saying he loved Patrick Allen's voice and proceded to do the most amazing imitation for us. Turns out Patrick Allen WASN'T dead (this was 2001) but Armstrong's take off of him was, dare I say it, better in terms of comic timing whilst keeping the inflections the same. Nowadays Channel 4 have someone who does a Patrick Allen take-off for their continuity announcements because he was, and always will be, the best voice in TV.