{{Short description|American actress (1896–1943)}} {{about||the photographer|Winifred Hall Allen}} {{Use American English|date=October 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Winifred Allen | image = Silent film actress Winifred Allen (SAYRE 1618).jpg | image_size = | caption = Allen in 1921 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|06|26|mf=yes}} | birth_place = New Rochelle, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1943|01|03|1896|06|26|mf=yes}} | death_place = New York, U.S. | other_names = Winifred Sperry Tenney | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1915–1924 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Lawrence Sperry|1918|1923|reason=d.}} *{{marriage| Vernon E. Tenney |1929}} }} | relatives = Elmer Ambrose Sperry (father-in-law) }}
'''Winifred Allen''' (June 26, 1896 – January 3, 1943) was an American silent film actress. She appeared in several films between 1915 and 1924. She was known later as '''Winifred Sperry Tenney'''.<ref name="bfi">{{cite web |title=Winifred Allen |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba4526621 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212011243/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba4526621 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 12, 2019 |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref>
== Early years == Allen was born in New Rochelle, New York, the daughter of Henry D'Arcy Kelly.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1929-12-10 |title=Mrs. Winifred Sperry and Vernon Tenney Obtain License to Marry |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-times-mrs-winifred-s/175685129/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Times |pages=45 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her mother was born in Ireland.<ref name=":0">1930 United States census, via Ancestry.</ref> She graduated from the public schools there and went on to study at the Art Students League of New York. The deaths of both parents prompted her to leave school and seek a career in films.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dean |first1=Daisy |title=Movieland |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30799408/winifred_allen/ |access-date=20 April 2019 |work=Muncie Evening Press |date=May 7, 1917 |location=Indiana, Muncie |page=9|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her sister May Allen was also an actress.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Davenport |first=William Wyatt |url=http://archive.org/details/gyrolifetime00dave |title=Gyro! : The life and times of Lawrence Sperry |date=1978 |publisher=Scribner |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-684-15793-1 |pages=5-7}}</ref>
== Career == [[File:From Two to Six (1918) poster.jpg|thumb|170px|Poster for ''From Two to Six'' (1918)]] Allen acted with the Edison and Reliance studios, as well as with other film companies.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Winifred Allen |journal=Motography |date=April 17, 1915 |volume=XIII |url=https://archive.org/stream/motography13elec#page/615/mode/1up |access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref> She appeared in 11 films listed by the American Film Institute, all made between 1915 and 1924.<ref name="afi">{{cite web |title=Winifred Allen |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Person/157753-Winifred-Allen?isMiscCredit=False |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref> "Winifred Allen did genuine and delightful work as the plucky little bride" of Jack Deveraux's character, according to a 1917 review of ''The Man Who Made Good.''<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 5, 1917 |title=The Films Reviewed |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dramatic_Mirror_of_the_Stage_and_Motion/lWtDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Winifred%20Allen%20actress&pg=RA17-PA27&printsec=frontcover |journal=The Dramatic Mirror |pages=28}}</ref> She played Jack Deveraux's wife again in ''American – That's All'' (1917).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |date=June 9, 1917 |title=The Films Reviewed |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dramatic_Mirror_of_the_Stage_and_Motion/lWtDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Winifred%20Allen%20actress&pg=RA22-PA30&printsec=frontcover |journal=The Dramatic Mirror |pages=30}}</ref> She and actress Ann Dvorak knitted warm items for American soldiers during the filming if ''The Man Hater'' (1917).<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=Christina |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ann_Dvorak/pXH9AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Winifred%20Allen%20actress&pg=PA18&printsec=frontcover |title=Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel |date=2013-11-14 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-4440-5 |pages=18 |language=en}}</ref>
== Publications ==
* "To the Studio by Aerial-Taxi" (March 1918)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allen |first=Winifred |date=March 1918 |title=To the Studio by Aerial-Taxi |url=https://archive.org/details/Film-Fun-1918-03-No-348/mode/2up?q=Winifred+allen |journal=Film Fun |issue=348 |pages=27 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
== Personal life == In 1918<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 28, 1921 |title=Who's Who in American Aeronautics |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Aviation_Week_Space_Technology/m5dxYYm6N34C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA396&printsec=frontcover |journal=Aviation |volume=10 |issue=13 |pages=396}}</ref> Allen married aviation pioneer Lawrence Sperry, and ''Flying'' magazine reported that they were "the first couple to take an aerial honeymoon" after they flew from Amityville to Governors Island.<ref name="robinson">{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Doug |title=The Golden Avenue: The History and People of Ocean Avenue, Amityville, NY |chapter=Lawrence Sperry and early flight|date=2018 |isbn=9780359097302 |pages=69–70 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3uR0DwAAQBAJ&q=%22Winifred+Allen%22+sperry&pg=PA69 |access-date=10 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1918-03-10 |title=Ready for Honeymoon in a Navy Aeroplane |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-plain-dealer-ready-for-honeymoon-in/175684951/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |work=The Plain Dealer |pages=71 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> They had two children, also named Lawrence and Winifred.<ref name=":0" /> Sperry died in an airplane crash in 1923.<ref>{{cite news |date=January 20, 1931 |title=Sperry Heirs End Fight on Estate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30799637/daily_news/ |access-date=20 April 2019 |work=Daily News |location=New York, New York City |page=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She married Vernon E. Tenney in 1929.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1929-12-12 |title=Mrs. Winifred Sperry Weds Vernon Tenney; Rev. Dr. Reed Performs Ceremony in Park Avenue Home of Chance Vought |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/12/12/archives/mrs-winifred-sperry-weds-vernon-tenney-rev-dr-reed-performs.html |access-date=2025-07-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Tenneys divorced in 1935, and he died at sea in 1937.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1938-07-10 |title=Tenney Will Fight Averted by Settlement |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-tenney-will-fig/175683644/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She lived in Hawaii with her children in the 1930s.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilder |first=Betty |date=1953-06-27 |title=New Kuleanas at Kuliouou Nestle About Old Lagoon |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-new-kuleanas-at-k/175683844/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=13 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She died in 1943, in New York, at the age of 46.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1943-01-05 |title=Mrs. W. A. Tenney, Rites Tomorrow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-eagle-mrs-w-a-tenney-rites/175684388/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |work=Brooklyn Eagle |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1943-01-18 |title=Tenney Will Filed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-tenney-will-filed/175684102/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Selected filmography== *''When We Were Twenty-One'' (1915) *''Seventeen'' (1916) *''The Long Trail'' (1917) * ''The Haunted House'' (1917) * ''American – That's All'' (1917)<ref name=":1" /> * ''For Valour'' (1917)<ref name=":3" /> * ''The Man Hater'' (1917)<ref name=":2" /> * ''A Successful Failure'' (1917) * ''The Man Who Made Good'' (1917)<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 21, 1917 |title=Bessie Barriscale in New Triangle |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dramatic_Mirror_of_the_Stage_and_Motion/lWtDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Winifred+Allen+actress&pg=RA15-PA30&printsec=frontcover |journal=The Dramatic Mirror |pages=30}}</ref> *''From Two to Six'' (1918) *''Second Youth'' (1924)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0021163}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Winifred}} Category:1896 births Category:1943 deaths Category:American silent film actresses Category:20th-century American actresses