{{short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Alta Allen | image = Alta Allen - Sep 1920 EH.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Allen in 1920 | birth_name = Alta Crowin | birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|9|6|mf=y}} | birth_place = Oakland, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|7|24|1904|9|6|mf=y}} | death_place = Boonsboro, Maryland, U.S. | othername = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1921 – 1926 | spouse = Hampton Del Ruth (m. 1920 – ?) }}
'''Alta Allen''' (born '''Alta Crowin''') (September 6, 1904 – July 24, 1998) was an American actress.
==Early years== Allen was born as Alta Crowin<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Walker|first1=Brent E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvmcAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Alta+Crowin%22+actress&pg=PA561|title=Mack Sennett's Fun Factory: A History and Filmography of His Studio and His Keystone and Mack Sennett Comedies, with Biographies of Players and Personnel|date=13 January 2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5707-6|page=561|language=en|access-date=January 17, 2021}}</ref> in Oakland, California in 1904 to a Scottish mother, Jessie (née Robertson), and W. J. Crowin, who hailed from the West Coast. She made her first professional performance at an Oakland theater in a production of Louisa May Alcott's ''Little Women''. Allen's role in this production was as Beth March. She was ten years old at the time.{{Citation needed |date=December 2021}}
Allen was "one of the most popular of Oakland's younger social set."<ref name="ot">{{cite news |title=Oakland Girl to Be Starred Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23575722/oakland-tribune/ |access-date=December 20, 2021 |work=Oakland Tribune |date=September 11, 1921 |page=50|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Career == Allen's early professional experience included acting in stock theater in Oakland and directing and performing in the Fairmont's ''Rainbow Lane'' revue.<ref name="ot" />
[[File:AltaAllen.jpg|thumb|right|Allen in a scene from ''Seven Years Bad Luck'' (1921)]] In 1920, William Fox, the founder of the Fox Film Corporation, observed Allen as she performed the leading role<ref>''Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio'' p. 170</ref> at a musical revue within the Fairmont Hotel.<ref name=ash>''American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929'' p. 381</ref> Subsequently, she signed a contract with his studios, although she would only perform one role in any silent film released by Fox Film: the 1921 comedy ''Skirts''.<ref name=ash/> She would subsequently sign a contract with Universal Studios,<ref name="SAG">{{cite web|url=http://www.silentsaregolden.com/photos2/altaallenphoto.html|title=Alta Allen|work=Silents Are Golden|publisher=Tim Lussier|accessdate=2008-08-09}}</ref> and later appeared in several films released by this corporation, including ''The Marriage Chance'' (1922),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19230521&id=MsdXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cPQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3761,3550390&hl=en|title="Marriage Chance" has Novel Plot|access-date=October 2, 2016|newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle|date=May 21, 1923}}</ref> and ''A Self-Made Failure'' (1924). Her final credited screen appearance occurred in 1926, as Thora Barton in the cast of ''The Set-Up''.{{Citation needed |date=December 2021}}
== Personal life and death == On November 25, 1920, Allen married actor, screenwriter, and director Hampton Del Ruth<ref name=":0" /> (the couple later divorced).<ref>{{cite web|date=1920-11-25|title=Alta Crowin Mentioned in the Record of Hampton Del Ruth and Alta Crowin|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8FB-HJZ/|publisher=familysearch.org|accessdate=2016-10-02}}</ref> She died of natural causes at her Boonsboro home on June 24, 1998, the age of 93.{{Citation needed |date=December 2021}}
==Filmography== [[File:Skirts (1921) - 7.jpg|140px|right|thumb|Allen, pictured at age 15 in a film still for the silent film, ''Skirts'']] {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;" ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- |rowspan=4|1921 |''A Shocking Night'' |Bessie Lane | '''Lost''' film |- |''Seven Years Bad Luck'' |Betty |Max's Fiancée |- |''Be My Wife'' |Mary |The subject of the main characters' affections |- |''Skirts'' |Kidnapped girl | '''Lost''' film |- |1922 |''The Marriage Chance'' |Eleanor Douglas | '''Lost''' film |- |rowspan=2|1924 |''A Self-Made Failure'' |Mrs. Spike Malone |Alternative title: ''The Goof'' <br /> '''Lost''' film |- |Daring Chances |Agnes Rushton | '''Lost''' film |- |rowspan=2|1926 | ''The Set-Up'' |Thora Barton |Daughter of Cliff Barton, the murder victim <br /> '''Lost''' film |- |''Raggedy Rose'' |Rose's former co-worker |Uncredited role |}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0020258}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Alta}} Category:American silent film actresses Category:Actresses from Oakland, California Category:1904 births Category:1998 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses