Alta Allen

• Name — Alta Allen • Birth Name — Alta Crowin • Born — 6 September 1904 • Birthplace — Oakland, California, U.S. • Died — 24 July 1998 • Place of death — Boonsboro, Maryland, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1921 – 1926 • Spouse — Hampton Del Ruth (m. 1920 –?)

Allen was born as Alta Crowin in Oakland, California in 1904 to a Scottish mother, Jessie (née Robertson), and W. J. Crowin, who hailed from the West Coast. She made her first professional performance at an Oakland theater in a production of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Allen's role in this production was as Beth March. She was ten years old at the time. Allen was "one of the most popular of Oakland's younger social set."

Allen's early professional experience included acting in stock theater in Oakland and directing and performing in the Fairmont's Rainbow Lane revue. • Illustration — Allen in a scene from Seven Years Bad Luck (1921) In 1920, William Fox, the founder of the Fox Film Corporation, observed Allen as she performed the leading role at a musical revue within the Fairmont Hotel. Subsequently, she signed a contract with his studios, although she would only perform one role in any silent film released by Fox Film: the 1921 comedy Skirts. She would subsequently sign a contract with Universal Studios, and later appeared in several films released by this corporation, including The Marriage Chance (1922), and A Self-Made Failure (1924). Her final credited screen appearance occurred in 1926, as Thora Barton in the cast of The Set-Up.

On November 25, 1920, Allen married actor, screenwriter, and director Hampton Del Ruth (the couple later divorced). She died of natural causes at her Boonsboro home on June 24, 1998, the age of 93.

• Illustration — Allen, pictured at age 15 in a film still for the silent film, Skirts • Year — Film — Role — Notes • 1921 — A Shocking Night — Bessie Lane — Lost film • Seven Years Bad Luck — Betty — Max's Fiancée • Be My Wife — Mary — The subject of the main characters' affections • Skirts — Kidnapped girl — Lost film • 1922 — The Marriage Chance — Eleanor Douglas — Lost film • 1924 — A Self-Made Failure — Mrs. Spike Malone — Alternative title: The Goof Lost film • Daring Chances — Agnes Rushton — Lost film • 1926 — The Set-Up — Thora Barton — Daughter of Cliff Barton, the murder victim Lost film • Raggedy Rose — Rose's former co-worker — Uncredited role