Allyn Ann McLerie

Allyn Ann McLerie (December 1, 1926 – May 21, 2018) was a Canadian-born American actress, singer and dancer who worked with many of Golden Age musical theatre's major choreographers, including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, and Jerome Robbins.^[1][2]

Allyn Ann McLerie
McLerie on The Tony Randall Show (1977)
Born	(1926-12-01)December 1, 1926 Grand-Mère, Quebec, Canada
Died	May 21, 2018(2018-05-21) (aged 91) North Bend, Washington, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer, dancer
Years active	1943–1993
Spouses	Adolph Green ​ ​ (m. 1945; div. 1953)​ George Gaynes ​ ​ (m. 1953; died 2016)​
Children	2

Life and career

McLerie was born in Grand-Mère, Quebec, Canada, the only child of Vera Alma MacTaggart (née Stewart) and Allan Gordon McLerie, an aviator and WWI veteran.^[3] Allan Gordon McLerie died of a heart attack four months before his daughter's birth,^[4] and Allyn Ann McLerie moved with her widowed mother to the United States at age one. (McLerie's mother, Vera, died on her daughter's 54th birthday in 1980 at age 83.^[5]) Allyn studied dancing at a studio in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and made her Broadway debut as a teenager in Kurt Weill's One Touch of Venus.^[2][3][6]

She went on to replace Sono Osato as Ivy in On the Town,^[7] then played Amy Spettigue in the 1948 Broadway production of Where's Charley? (Theatre World Award).^[1][8]

A life member of The Actors Studio,^[9] McLerie's other Broadway credits include Miss Liberty,^[10][11] the drama Time Limit, Redhead (understudying Gwen Verdon), and West Side Story.

McLerie's film roles include Amy in Where's Charley? (1952);^[8] Katie Brown in Calamity Jane (1953); Shirley in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969); and The Crazy Woman in Jeremiah Johnson (1972). Other film work includes Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954), The Cowboys (1972), The Way We Were (1973), Cinderella Liberty (1973), All the President's Men (1976), and TV movies such as Born Innocent (1974) and Death Scream (1975).^[12]

She enjoyed a long career as a character actress on television, making frequent guest appearances on shows such as Bonanza, The Waltons, The Love Boat, Barney Miller, Benson, Hart to Hart, St. Elsewhere, and Dynasty, among many others.^[13] She played Miss Janet Reubner, Tony Randall's acerbic and priggish secretary, on The Tony Randall Show (1976–78).^[10]

McLerie played the recurring role of Arthur Carlson's wife Carmen on WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–82). Though then in her mid-fifties, McLerie was playing a character about a decade younger, as Carmen gave birth to a daughter in a 1980 episode. McLerie also appeared in three episodes of Punky Brewster alongside her husband, George Gaynes (1984). She later appeared as Florence Bickford, the title character's mother on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1987–91). Her last role was on an episode of Brooklyn Bridge in 1993.^[13]

Personal life

McLerie was married to the lyricist/librettist Adolph Green^[14] from 1945 until their divorce in May 1953. She was also married to actor George Gaynes from 1953 until his death in 2016.^[15] The couple had two children.^[16]

McLerie died at her home in North Bend, Washington, on May 21, 2018, at the age of 91, from Alzheimer's disease.^[17][18]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1948	Words and Music	Singer in Garrick Gaeities	uncredited
1952	Where's Charley?	Amy Spettigue
1952	The Desert Song	Azuri
1953	Calamity Jane	Katie Brown
1954	Phantom of the Rue Morgue	Yvonne
1955	Battle Cry	Ruby – Waitress in Diner
1962	40 Pounds of Trouble	Blanchard's secretary	uncredited
1969	They Shoot Horses, Don't They?	Shirl
1969	The Reivers	Alison McCaslin
1970	Monte Walsh	Mary Eagle
1972	The Cowboys	Ellen Price
1972	Jeremiah Johnson	Crazy Woman
1972	The Magnificent Seven Ride!	Mrs. Donavan
1973	Howzer	Faye Carsell
1973	The Way We Were	Rhea Edwards
1973	Cinderella Liberty	Miss Watkins
1974	France société anonyme	L'Américaine
1974	Born Innocent	Emma Lasko	TV movie
1975	Death Scream	Alice Whitmore	TV movie
1976	All the President's Men	Carolyn Abbott
1983	Living Proof: The Hank Williams, Jr. Story	Audrey Williams	TV movie
1994	Police Academy: Mission to Moscow	Irina Petrovskaya	uncredited

References

1. Amanda Vaill (May 6, 2008). Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins. Broadway Books. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-7679-0421-6. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
2. Stanley Green (March 21, 1980). Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. DaCapo Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-306-80113-6. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
3. Theatre world. Crown Publishers. 1957. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
4. "Biography for WW1 Veteran Allan Gordon McLerie, Royal Air Force (Canada) | the Kenora Great War Project".
5. Marc Leroux. "Second Lieutenant Allan Gordon McLerie". Canadiangreatwarproject.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
6. Profile, bklyn.newspapers.com; accessed May 20, 2015.
7. Stanley Green (March 21, 1980). Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. Da Capo Press. p. 322. ISBN 978-0-306-80113-6. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
8. Thomas S. Hischak (2008). The Oxford companion to the American musical: theatre, film, and television. Oxford University Press US. pp. 791–. ISBN 978-0-19-533533-0. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
9. Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 279. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
10. Hal Erickson (June 15, 2009). Encyclopedia of television law shows: factual and fictional series about judges, lawyers and the courtroom, 1948–2008. McFarland. pp. 260–. ISBN 978-0-7864-3828-0. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
11. Steven Bach (April 30, 2002). Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart. Da Capo Press. pp. 293–. ISBN 978-0-306-81135-7. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
12. Thomas S. Hischak (2008). The Oxford companion to the American musical: theatre, film, and television. Oxford University Press US. pp. 864–. ISBN 978-0-19-533533-0. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
13. Allyn Ann McLerie at IMDb
14. Amanda Vaill (May 6, 2008). Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins. Broadway Books. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-7679-0421-6. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
15. McFadden, Robert D. (February 17, 2016). "George Gaynes, a Versatile Character Actor, Dies at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
16. Variety Staff (February 16, 2016). "George Gaynes, 'Punky Brewster' and 'Police Academy' Star, Dies at 98". Variety. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
17. Szabo, Sarah (March 30, 2018). "Actors we lost in 2018". Looper.com.
18. Allyn Ann McLerie, Actress in 'Where's Charley?' and 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' Dies at 91, hollywoodreporter.com; accessed January 20, 2019.

External links

• Allyn Ann McLerie at IMDb
• Allyn Ann McLerie at the Internet Broadway Database
• Allyn Ann McLerie at the Internet Off-Broadway Database