Sheldon Allman (June 8, 1924 – January 22, 2002) was an American-Canadian actor,

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

, and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

Early life and career

Allman was born in Chicago, Illinois. He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

service with the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environ ...

. He moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

in 1949, in order to attend the

Los Angeles Conservatory of Music LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...

. After it, he appeared in 12 films, including such notable films as '' Nevada Smith'', ''

The Sons of Katie Elder ''The Sons of Katie Elder'' is a 1965 American Western film in Panavision, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne and Dean Martin. It was filmed principally in Mexico. Plot The four adult sons of Katie Elder – John, who is a f ...

'', '' Hud'' and ''

In Cold Blood ''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. Capote learned of the ...

''. His co-stars included, respectively, Steve McQueen, John Wayne and

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

. He also made appearances in numerous TV series during the 1960s and 1970s. On television, Allman provided the voice of Big H in '' CB Bears'' on CBS and played Norm Miller in '' Harris Against the World'' on NBC. He provided music on the game show '' Three for the Money'' on NBC, and he was the singing voice for TV's ''

Mister Ed ''Mister Ed'' is an American television sitcom produced by Filmways that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which origi ...

'', for which he also wrote and recorded "The Pretty Little Filly with the Ponytail" and "The Empty Feedbag Blues". Mr. Allman wrote longer versions of these songs, but never recorded the longer versions. He was the lyricist for the theme song to '' George of the Jungle''. Additionally, Allman worked with Stan Worth, co-writer of the "George of the Jungle" theme, to create music for a number of game shows by Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Productions, including the 1970s versions of ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is an American television musical comedy variety-game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created an ...

'', '' Masquerade Party'' and '' It Pays to be Ignorant''. In 1960, Allman released '' Folk Songs for the 21st Century'', an album of novelty songs all revolving around science-fiction themes. The tongue-in-cheek material, which Allman wrote and arranged himself, included titles such as "Crawl Out Through The Fallout" and "Radioactive Mama." "Crawl Out Through The Fallout" is used in the video game ''

Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, Wi ...

''. In addition, Allman co-wrote two

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

horror-themed stage musicals with Bobby Pickett, composer of the hit novelty song, " Monster Mash." The musicals were '' I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night'' and its sequel, '' Frankenstein Unbound'', the former of which was made into the 1995 film, '' Monster Mash''.

Death

On January 22, 2002, Allman died of heart failure at his home in Culver City, California, at age 77. His interment is in Culver City's Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1924 births 2002 deaths American male film actors American male television actors Jewish American musicians American male singer-songwriters Singers from Chicago People from Culver City, California Male actors from Chicago Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors 20th-century American male actors 20th-century Canadian male actors 20th-century Canadian male singers Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery Singer-songwriters from California 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers American emigrants to Canada 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Singer-songwriters from Illinois {{US-singer-songwriter-stub