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Georgia Allen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georgia Allen
Allen around 1997
Born
Georgia Williams Allen

(1919-05-12)May 12, 1919
Beaumont, Texas, United States
DiedJanuary 11, 2014(2014-01-11) (aged 94)
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Alma materUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
OccupationActress
Years active1949–2006
SpouseThaddius S. Allen (1942–2009; his death)

Georgia Williams Allen (May 12, 1919 – January 11, 2014) was an American actress. She was active from 1949 to 2006, beginning in local theater before progressing to both television and movie roles.

Early life

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Allen was born in Beaumont, Texas.[1] She later moved, via Cleveland, Ohio, to Atlanta, Georgia, where she became an educator in the public school system.[2]

Acting career

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Allen was a repertory player with Atlanta University Summer Theater for thirty years (1949 to 1979).[1] In that time, Allen appeared in a political satire musical called Red, White and Maddox about Atlanta's Governor Lester Maddox. The show premiered in Atlanta and followed with a short run on Broadway.[3] [4]

Her first screen role was as the mother of Clifton Davis' character, Gus, in Together for Days (1972). After a five-year break, she returned in 1977 as Mrs. Jones in Greased Lightning. She appeared in four television movies between 1979 and 1982, then several more from the mid-1980s onward. Between 1990 and 1994, she appeared as three different characters in the television series In the Heat of the Night. In 1997, she played Lucille Wright, the real-life cateress of the parties hosted by Kevin Spacey's character, Jim Williams, in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.[5]

Awards

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Allen was awarded the Bronze Jubilee Award by WETV in 1979; the Ray McIver Award by the Just Us Theater in 1993; and the Legacy Award by Jomandi Productions, also in 1993.[1]

Her last-known appearance was as Ruby in Madea's Family Reunion (2006).

Personal life

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Allen was educated at Clark College in Atlanta, graduating in 1942. That same year, she married Thaddius S. Allen, with whom she had a daughter and a son during their 67-year marriage.[6]

She earned her master's degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara.[2]

Death

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Allen died on January 11, 2014, having survived her husband by five years. She is interred in Atlanta's Crest Lawn Cemetery.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816-1960 - Google Books
  2. ^ a b Tilley, Kathy (July 6, 1973). "Acting a Part-Time Job, Full-Time Love". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 31. Retrieved October 22, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Barnes, Clive (27 January 1969). "Stage: 'Red, White and Maddox' Here: Satire From Atlanta Is at the Cort Theater". New York Times. p. 27.
  4. ^ "Red, White and Maddox". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  5. ^ "WashingtonPost.com: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  6. ^ a b Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 13, 2014
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