SDC BRTI-AMERICA RADIO

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Astrid Allwyn



Lovely Connecticut-born blonde Astrid Allwyn, with her foreign-sounding name and icy countenance, spruced up a number of 1930s and early 1940s films. Of Swedish descent, she studied dancing and dramatics in New York and later gathered experience joining a stock company. Allwyn made her Broadway debut in 1929 in Elmer Rice's "Street Scene" and, on the strength of her second play "Once in a Lifetime," was brought to Hollywood in 1932.

With the help of the Greta Garbo craze, the chic, heart-shaped faced beauty managed to parlayed her placid Scandanavian allure into a film career. She made her debut supporting Constance Bennett in the romantic comedy Lady with a Past (1932) and continued to charm then harm as the "other woman" opposite many of the big male stars of the day -- Humphrey Bogart in Love Affair (1932), Lee Tracy in The Night Mayor (1932), James R. Murray in Bachelor Mother (1932), Lionel Atwill in Beggars in Ermine (1934), Lew Ayres in Servants' Entrance (1934), John Boles in The White Parade (1934), Spencer Tracy in It's a Small World (1935), Herbert Marshall in Accent on Youth (1935), Henry Fonda in Way Down East (1935), Fred MacMurray in Hands Across the Table (1935), Fred Astaire in Follow the Fleet (1936), William Gargan in Flying Hostess (1936), James Dunn in Venus Makes Trouble (1937), Alan Baxter in It Could Happen to You! (1937), Preston Foster in The Westland Case (1937), Bruce Cabot in Love Takes Flight (1937), Robert Young in Miracles for Sale (1939) and Richard Dix in Reno (1939).

Rarely placed in the leading lady position, Astrid was given few front-tier assignments aside from Mystery Liner (1934), International Crime (1938) and as the lady reporter opposite John Archer's cop in the crimer City of Missing Girls (1941). She is probably better remembered for her support roles in the Charles Boyer/Irene Dunne tearjerker Love Affair (1939), as the scheming, predatory daughter of Senator Claude Rains who focuses her sites on James Stewart in the Frank Capra classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and as a barfly in No Hands on the Clock (1941).

After filming Hit Parade of 1943 (1943), Astrid made a decision to retire so she could on family and raising children. Briefly married to first husband/actor Robert Kent, the couple appeared together in the Shirley Temple vehicle Dimples (1936) and Astrid went on to provide her customary chilly demeanor to little Miss Temple later again in Stowaway (1936). Married a second time in 1941 to businessman Charles O. Fee, a union that lasted until her death, they had two children -- Melinda O. Fee and Vicki Fee, both of whom became actresses. Astrid died of cancer in 1978 at age 72, and was interred at Forest Lawn Glendale, Court of Freedom, #955.


Born of Swedish parents, blonde Astrid Allwyn was brought to Hollywood in 1932 on the wave of Garbo-mania. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, she never reached the lofty heights of stardom and, instead, played a succession of icy, predatory 'other women' who would tempt or seduce the hero and make life difficult for the heroine - but only momentarily. She made her stage debut in 'Street Scene' in 1929.
In 1931 MGM publicity announced that the studio had signed Astrid Allwyn due to her success in the recent theatrical productions "Once in a Lifetime" and "Young Sinners" and that her first movie for MGM would be West of Broadway (1931).


 1943Hit Parade of 1943
Joyce Germaine
 1941No Hands on the Clock
Gypsy Toland
 1941Unexpected Uncle
Sara Cochran
 1941Puddin' Head
Yvonne Jones
 1941The Hard-Boiled Canary
Girl (uncredited)
 1941Melody for Three
Gladys McClelland
 1940Meet the Missus
Violet Stevens
 1940The Leather Pushers
Pat Danbury
 1940Gangs of Chicago
Virginia Brandt
 1940The Lone Wolf Strikes
Binnie Weldon
 1939Reno
Flora McKenzie
 1939Honeymoon in Bali
Fortune Teller at Egret Room
 1939Miracles for Sale
Mrs. Zelma La Claire
 1937The Westland Case
Miss Brentino
 1937Love Takes Flight
Diane Audre
 1937Venus Makes Trouble
Iris Randall
 1937Murder Goes to College
Greta Barry
 1937Woman-Wise
'Bubbles' Carson
 1936Flying Hostess
Phyllis Crawford
 1936Dimples
Cleo Marsh
 1936Star for a Night
Josephine Hall
 1936Follow the Fleet
Mrs. Iris Manning
 1936It Had to Happen
Mabel Spears (scenes deleted)
 1936Charlie Chan's Secret
Janice Gage
 1935Hands Across the Table
Vivian Snowden
 1935Way Down East
Kate
 1935Ladies Love Danger
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
 1935Accent on Youth
Genevieve Lang
 1935Dante's Inferno
Girl in Stoke-Hold (uncredited)
 1935It's a Small World
Nancy Naylor
 1935The Great Hotel Murder
Nora, Bookstand Girl (uncredited)
 1935One More Spring
Girl at Auction
 1934The White Parade
Gertrude Mack
 1934Servants' Entrance
Sigrid Hansen
 1934Monte Carlo Nights
Blondie Roberts
 1934Beggars in Ermine
Mrs. Vivian Dawson (as Astrid Allyn)
 1934All of Me
Ray (uncredited)
 1933Only Yesterday (uncredited)
 1933He Couldn't Take It
Blonde
 1933Hello, Sister!
Webster's Secretary
 1933The Iron Master
Flo Lancert
 1932Bachelor Mother
Lola Butler
 1932The Girl from Calgary
Mazie Williams
 1932Hat Check Girl
A Party Guest (uncredited)
 1932The Night Mayor
Patsy
 1932Love Affair
Linda Lee
 1932Lady with a Past
Lola
 1931West of Broadway
Young woman (uncredited)


No comments:

Post a Comment