Biography for
Nancy Allen (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

24 June 1950, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Nancy Anne Allen

Height

5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Nancy was the daughter of a Lieutenant from Yonkers, New York. At a young age she trained for a dancing career at the High School of Performing Arts, and then attended Jose Quintano's School for Young Professionals. In dozens of TV commercials from the age of 15, Nancy made her first film appearance in The Last Detail in 1973).with 'Jack Nicholson (I)'. Three years later, she set the standard for all future "bitch-goddess teenagers" as Chris Hargensen in Stephen King's Carrie (1976), taken to the big screen by director Brian De Palma. Nancy Allen then married De Palma. She next appeared in Steven Spielberg's I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978); for the next few years, she appeared only in De Palma's films: Home Movies (1980), Dressed to Kill (1980), and she starred with John Travolta in Blow Out (1981).

After her divorce from De Palma in 1984, Nancy's film opportunities were supposedly narrowed, but then she surprised the whole world in 1987 when she performed as Officer Anne Lewis in the Sci-Fi cult film RoboCop (1987), along with Peter Weller. Here she set another standard as a tough but at the same time feminine policewoman, whose sex wouldn't interfere with her actions. After the success of RoboCop, she performed as Patricia Gardner in the second sequel in the saga of Poltergeist. She came back in RoboCop 2 (1990) and in order to get more involved with the character Nancy Allen learned martial arts and police training for real. She returned again in RoboCop 3 (1993), though her co-star Peter Weller didn't this time. In 1993, Nancy Allen joined several other veteran stars in Acting on Impulse (1993) (TV), and married co-star Craig Shoemaker, in the same year. A few years later she divorced Craig and some time after she married again.

Later, she appeared in some diverse films: Dusting Cliff 7 (1997) Secret of the Andes (1999), Circuit (2001), and she had a guest appearance in Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1998). Her last performance was for the TV show Law & Order Special Victims Unit, in the Episode "Escape" aired on December 2nd, 2003. Allen has recently appeared in several documentaries about her most famous films: Acting 'Carrie' (2001) (V), _DVD BackStory: RoboCop (2001)_, The Making of 'Dressed to Kill' (2001) (V), DVD _ET True Hollywood Stories: The Curse of Poltergeist (2002)_.

Interested in projecting the image of a strong but at the same time feminine woman, she managed to get away from the victim roles she was always offered, she also was able to get away from the stereotype of the beautiful but dumb woman in most action films. She is an environmentalist that traded her Volvo car for an Hybrid car in order to set the example. She is also an activist against breast Cancer along with her friend actress Wendie Jo Sperber, who created the foundation WeSpark.

Her last appearance on TV was on the Inside E! story of her co-star John Travolta and the A&E Biography of Travolta - both appearances in 2004. Nowadays Nancy Allen lives a quiet life along with her family and friends somewhere in the USA.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Eva Dalila Rojano, thanks to Derek Hazell nancy_tribute@hotmail.com

Spouse

Randy Bailey	(June 1998 - 17 May 2007) (divorced)
Craig Shoemaker	(6 September 1992 - 1994) (divorced)
Brian De Palma	(12 January 1979 - 1984) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Scream Queen

Trivia

Trained for a dancing career at the High School of Performing Arts

Attended Leonard Quintano's School for Young Professionals.

Nancy and her RoboCop (1987) star Peter Weller were both born on June 24th, three years apart (Nancy was born in 1950, Weller was born in 1947).

Her father was a police sergeant in New York and her most famous role is a policewoman named Anne Lewis.

Said the hardest part of filming Dressed to Kill (1980) was wearing black lingerie, which she found very uncomfortable.

Aunt of Eugene Allen.

Her then-husband Brian De Palma specifically wrote the role of the hooker in Dressed to Kill (1980) with her in mind.

While filming 1941 (1979) she took part in a betting pool on when the house would collapse in the final scene of the film. Dan Akyroyd eventually won that bet.

Originally auditioned for the role of Carrie in Carrie (1976), while Sissy Spacek read for the role of high school bitch Chris Hargensen, but director Brian De Palma decided to have them swap roles.

Cousin of comedian Jim Breuer.

Worked in four movies directed by her ex-husband Brian De Palma. Carrie (1976), Home Movies (1980), Dressed to Kill (1980), and Blow Out (1981).

Was a last minute replacement for the role of Anne Lewis in RoboCop (1987) as Stephanie Zimbalist who was previously cast in this role was under contract with MGM and was call back to reprise her role as Laura Holt in "Remington Steele" (1982) for the 5th season.

Personal Quotes

"He brought heart and soul to it and a warmth that didn't exist on the page." - about her co-star John Travolta's performance in Blow Out (1981).

"Because of how good he is at this job, that made it really easy for me" - talking about co-star Peter Weller in 1988.

"There's nothing more uncomfortable than wearing black lingerie." - Talking about the climax of Dressed to Kill (1980).

[on her reaction to hearing about RoboCop 2 (1990)]: "I suppose this was the first thing that made me think about making a sequel, because they used to say "well, she is going to return as a robot..." I never thought that as a real possibility, because everybody expected it, if you're going to make a sequel, you cannot stay with the predictable. I think I wouldn't like to play a robot, I don't know how Peter manages it, I suffer from claustrophobia! If I have to tell the truth I never thought to make a sequel, when people used to talk about it I thought that was ridiculous. The first time that I seriously thought about it was when Jon Davidson (the producer) called. "You know it, right? RoboCop2?" then I thought: "oh, that's interesting"

[Further talking about RoboCop 2 (1990)]: "In my opinion I don't think anything is missing from the film. Movies has to be brought in on a certain time limit and generally in a action film character will suffer."

[Talking about making RoboCop 2 (1990)]: "I didn't have the best experience on the second film, it's a personal thing, too, wanting to work things out. I felt so good about our work in the first one, and something happened on the second one-it just wasn't good chemistry for me. To me, the character didn't even resemble Lewis from the first film."

[on hearing there was an animated Robocop series]: "I didn't know that there were a animated series until my maid told me. "Oh, my kids watch RoboCop," and I asked: Really? Where? and she turned on the TV. The series are great I think, just to see Lewis running from one side to another, was awesome."

I feel very, very blessed. It's like a guardian angel guided me into all the right streets, all the right turns. I'm very happy with my career and I want to make more movies!