Allen Leffingwell Vincent (August 28, 1903 – November 30, 1979) was an American actor and

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominated

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He started as a stage actor in New York City before moving to acting in motion pictures in the late 1920s, then transitioning to screenwriting in the early 1940s. His last credit is as a co-screenwriter for the 1952 film The Girl in White, which starred June Allyson and Arthur Kennedy.

Early years

Vincent was born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, the youngest of the two children of William David and Mary Eva (née Allen) Vincent. His father served as the president and vice chair of Spokane's Old National Bank and Union Trust Company and following the death of his first wife married Neen Hawley McVey in 1910.State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics Vincent was raised in the Episcopal church, being baptized on November 1, 1903, and confirmed on March 17, 1918, in Spokane's former All Saints Episcopal Cathedral. From 1920 to 1923 Vincent was a student at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a New England town, town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university ...

Career

After leaving Dartmouth, Vincent started his career as a stage actor, with his first role in Vanity Fair with

Doris Keane Doris Keane (December 12, 1881 – November 25, 1945) was an American actress, primarily in live theatre. Early life and family Keane was born in Michigan to Joseph Keane and Florence Winter. She was educated privately in Chicago, New York, Pa ...

in New York City in 1921, followed by serving as an understudy to

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

The Vortex ''The Vortex'' is a play in three acts by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the ...

."Allen Vincent, Screen Writer, Visits Spokane," ''The Spokesman-Review'', September 11, 1949: 66 His first credited film role came in 1929's Mother's Boy starring

Morton Downey John Morton Downey (November 14, 1901 – October 25, 1985), also known as Morton Downey, was an American singer and entertainer popular in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, enjoying his greatest success in the late 1920s ...

. He would appear in more than 25 films in the next decade, with his most notable role in 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum, where he played lead actress Fay Wray's love interest. His last known acting appearance happened in 1939 in the noir film Missing Daughters. Due to the development of a hearing impairment, starting in 1941, he transitioned to screenwriting and editing, his first credit being for The Face Behind the Mask, a noir crime film starring Peter Lorre about a fire-scarred watchmaker who turns to a life of crime to survive. The film initially had poor reviews, but since that time has received increasing praise from more contemporary critics like

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

and Dennis Schwartz. His greatest success as screenwriter came with Johnny Belinda, the 1948 film starring

Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007). was an American actress. A star of both movies and television, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress, four Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Pr ...

. The screenplay he wrote with Irma von Cube was nominated for a 1949 Academy Award, but lost to

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Death

Vincent died on November 30, 1979 at Canoga Terrace Convalescent Hospital in

Canoga Park, California Canoga Park is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Before the Mexican–American War, the district was part of a Ranchos of California, rancho, and after the American victory it was converted ...

."Allen Vincent, screenwriter," ''The Akron Beacon Journal'', December 4, 1979

Filmography

Acting

Screenwriting

* '' The Face Behind the Mask'' (1941) * '' Song of Love'' (1947) * '' Johnny Belinda'' (1948) * ''The Schumann Story'' (1950) * '' The Girl in White'' (1952) *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Allen 1903 births 1979 deaths Writers from Spokane, Washington American male screenwriters Dartmouth College Screenwriters from Washington (state) Male actors from Washington (state) 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters