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 memorable and popular television series.
Allen was born in New York City. 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.
Allen's 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 (1967–1970) and
The Swiss Family Robinson (1975–1976).
Code Red (1981–1982).
There is also a movie, City Beneath the Sea (1971), intended as a pilot for a new 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.
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 hugely successful The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974), which he also co-directed. He directed-produced The Swarm (1978), and produced/directed Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) and When Time Ran Out (1980).
In the late 1970s/1980s Allen sporadically returned to tv with mini-series 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 version of Pinocchio, but a decline in health caused an early retirement in 1986 after his last film made.
Irwin died from a heart attack in 1991 at the age of 75.
In popular culture
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.
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 almost every episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea".
Allen received the third ever Worst Career Achievement Golden Raspberry Award in 1985.
The "Irwin Allen con" featured in Ocean's Thirteen is to manipulate the mark using the threat of a large natural disaster.
On January 3rd 2008 BBC Four showed a night of Allen's work which included a 1995 documentary called "The Fantasy Worlds Of Irwin Allen" along with episodes of Lost In Space, Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
References
^ Lear, 239-240
^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160266
^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/listings/programme.shtml?day=today&service_id=4544&filename=20080103/20080103_2110_4544_10545_90
Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. New York: Henry Holt, 1997. ISBN 0-8050-3428-5
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
THE TIME TUNNEL FAN FORUM
Uncle Odie's Collectibles (A website dedicated to all things Irwin Allen.)
The Irwin Allen Photo Vaults
Persondata
NAME
Allen, Irwin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Film producer
DATE OF BIRTH
June 12, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH
New York, New York United States
DATE OF DEATH
November 2, 1991
PLACE OF DEATH
Santa Monica, California United States
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Allen"
Categories: American film producers | American television producers | American film directors | Films directed by Irwin Allen | People from New York City | Deaths by myocardial infarction | 1916 births | 1991 deathsHidden categories: Articles needing additional references from October 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since August 2007
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