Dave Allen

Born of a prominent Irish journalist in Dublin, Ireland, Dave Allen started out working and touring through English theatres and night clubs. Only occasionally working on radio, he made his first TV appearance on the BBC's "New Faces." He managed to tour with The Beatles while they were still starting out and soon managed to get an eight-month TV engagement called Tonight with Dave Allen (1967), which ended as still one of the most successful shows in Australia. During 1969, he turned from comedy to making documentaries, but then in 1971, he returned to BBC television for Dave Allen at Large (1971), another top-rated show. In 1972, he lived out a lifetime ambition to do plays, soon playing both Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" for the London Coliseum. He followed up with two more TV specials in Australia. Floating between stage, television, and more documentaries, he premiered in America in 1981 with "An Evening With Dave Allen." He died suddenly in March 2005.