Irwin Allen
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| Irwin Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 12, 1916 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 2, 1991 (aged 75) Santa Monica, California U.S. |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Years active | 1950 - 1986 |
| Spouse | Sheila Allen (1974- his death) |
Irwin Allen (June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was a television and film producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.
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[edit] Biography
Allen was born in New York City. His film credits include the 3-D film Dangerous Mission (1954), The Animal World (1956), the critically-panned The Story of Mankind (1957), The Big Circus (1959), The Lost World (1960), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), which later became the basis of his TV series of the same name, and Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962).
In the 1960s, Allen moved into television as a producer and was responsible for series such as:
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–1968)
- Lost in Space (1965–1968)
- The Time Tunnel (1966–1967)
- Land of the Giants (1968–1970)
- The Swiss Family Robinson (1975–1976)
- Code Red (1981–1982).
There is also a movie, City Beneath the Sea (1971 film), intended as a pilot for a new TV series, using many of the props from Voyage. Allen's science-fiction series became notorious for their inclusion of absurd science and an emphasis on the juvenile 'sci-fi' element.[citation needed]
In the 1970s, Allen returned to cinema screens and was the most popular name associated with the decade's fad for the disaster film genre. Allen produced the successful The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno1974) which he also co-directed. He produced several made-for-TV disaster movies: Flood! (1976), Fire! (1977), Hanging by a Thread (1978), and The Night the Bridge Fell Down and Cave In! (both 1979). For theatrical release he produced and directed The Swarm (1978) as well as Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) and produced When Time Ran Out (1980). (
In the late 1970s and mid-1980s, Allen sporadically returned to TV with miniseries like The Return of Captain Nemo/The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978) and a star-studded version of Alice in Wonderland (1985). He was planning on making a star-studded musical of Pinocchio, but a decline in health caused an early retirement in 1986.
Allen died from a heart attack in 1991.
[edit] Awards
In 1952, he won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for The Sea Around Us, which was based on Rachel Carson's best-selling book of the same name. Carson was so disappointed with Allen's final version of the script that she never again sold film rights to her work.[1] Three decades later Allen won the third ever Worst Career Achievement Golden Raspberry Award (1985).
[edit] Legacy
The "Irwin Allen rock-and-roll" is when the camera is rocked as the on-screen cast rushes from side to side on the set, simulating a ship being tossed around. It is employed in many episodes of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". This camera technique was employed in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode 'First Spaceship on Venus'. Here the camera tilts to simulate the spacecraft being hit. During this scene, Joel shouts out "Irwin Allen presents...".
[edit] In popular culture
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- Killdozer's 1989 song "Man vs. Nature" referred to Allen, calling him "the Master of Realism." The song's three verses mention three prominent disaster films of the 1970s, including The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake (which has nothing to do with Allen, in spite of the song's misattribution), and The Towering Inferno.
- In the film Ocean's Thirteen, "Irwin Allen" is a nickname for a con where the mark is manipulated by using the threat of a large natural disaster. In the movie, Brad Pitt assumes the character of a geophysicist who fools the owner of the Bank Hotel into believing his hotel requires an evacuation plan due to ambiguous references made by Pitt regarding seismologic activity in the Las Vegas area. This ruse enables the Ocean crew to carry out their exploitation during a segment of the plot.
- On January 3, 2008, BBC Four showed a night of Allen's work which included a 1995 documentary called "The Fantasy Worlds Of Irwin Allen"[2] along with episodes of Lost In Space, Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.[3]
[edit] References
- Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. New York: Henry Holt, 1997. ISBN 0-8050-3428-5
[edit] External links
- Irwin Allen at the Internet Movie Database
- The Irwin Allen News Network (Website covering all the TV shows and movies of Irwin Allen)
- Irwin Allen Memories
- The Irreverent Guide to Irwin Allen Television ("irreverent" episodic reviews from 1960's Irwin Allen television.)
- Irwin Allen's Gravesite
- Mike's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Zone-Irwin Allen
- Uncle Odie's Collectibles (A website dedicated to all things Irwin Allen.)
- Irwin Allen Wi