Robert Allen

As a young man Robert Allen, born Irvine E. Theodore Baehr, learned about horses: he played polo, hunted fox, and rode in the cavalry of of New York Military School, graduating there in 1924. After graduating Dartmouth College in 1929 with a degree in English he worked for a bank which failed in the Depression. Then he flew as a commercial pilot, but that company also folded. His next stop was Hollywood where he quickly landed acting jobs. While he often was cast in the studio's more adult-targeted productions such as The Awful Truth (1937), studio boss Harry Cohn was seeking a suitable replacement for the troublesome (yet wildly popular) Ken Maynard in their more modestly budgeted western unit. Allen's place in film history came in the a half dozen "Bob Allen, Ranger" movies produced in 1936 and 1937. Allen became good friends with his frequent co-star (and sometime movie bad guy), Hal Taliaferro and enjoyed a good working relationship with co-star Tim McCoy. He couldn't ... [Details Intro]