Profile via TMDB · Courtesy of TMDB
OverviewAI-generated
Fred Allen was an American comedian, radio personality, screenwriter, and journalist. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1894, he was educated at Boston University. He spoke and wrote in English. Allen was married to Portland Hoffa.
He received a Peabody Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His written works include *Low Man on a Totempole*, *Reform*, *Trees of Eden*, *Fredzone*, and *Letters*. Allen died of a myocardial infarction in New York City in 1956. He is buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery.
Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, TMDb, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 15
Top works
- low man on a totempole
- Reform
- Trees of Eden
- Fredzone
- Letters
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio. His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it was…
Known for
- Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio — Self - Predicts Demise of Radio (archive footage)1991
- Bob Hope's World of Comedy — Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)1976
- The Great Radio Comedians — Self (Archive footage)1971
- Judge for Yourself — Himself1953
- O. Henry's Full House — Sam "Slick" Brown (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief")1952
- We're Not Married! — Steve Gladwyn1952
- The Colgate Comedy Hour — Self1950
- Your Show of Shows1950
- The Jack Benny Program — Fred Allen1950
- What's My Line? — Self1950
via TMDB
Key facts
- Born
- John Florence Sullivan , ( 1894-05-31 ) May 31, 1894, Cambridge, Massachusetts , U.S.
- Died
- March 17, 1956 (1956-03-17) (aged 61), New York City, U.S.
- Years active
- 1914–1956
- Spouse
- Portland Hoffa ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1927 )
- Show
- The Fred Allen Show
- Network
- CBS , NBC
- Style
- Comedian
- Country
- United States
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Fred
- Family name
- Allen
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Cambridge
- Place of death
- New York City
- Spouse
- Portland Hoffa
- Occupation
- radio personality
- Educated at
- Boston University
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Native language
- English language
- Image
- Fred allen 1940s NBC photo.JPG
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Fred Allen
- cause of death
- myocardial infarction
- date of birth
- 1894-05-31
- date of death
- 1956-03-17
- place of burial
- Gate of Heaven Cemetery
- manner of death
- natural causes
- name in native language
- Fred Allen
- writing language
- English language
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist, topically pointed radio program The Fred Allen Show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio.
His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but that was only part of his appeal. Radio historian John Dunning wrote that Allen was perhaps radio's most admired comedian and most frequently censored. A master ad libber, Allen often tangled with his network's executives and often barbed them on the air over the battles while developing routines whose style and substance influenced fellow comic talents, including Groucho Marx, Stan Freberg, Henry Morgan, and Johnny Carson; his avowed fans also included President Franklin D. Roosevelt, humorist James Thurber, and novelists William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Herman Wouk, who began his career writing for Allen.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Fred Allen” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.