Corey Allen

Directing

Corey Allen

Born 1934-06-29 · Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Corey Allen earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UCLA in Theatre in 1954. While there, he received the department's Best Actor award and starred in the UCLA film, "A Time Out of War", which won the Academy Award & Cannes & Venice Film Festival for Best Short Film. Upon graduation, he appeared in approximately twenty plays in the Los Angeles area. Director Nicholas Ray spotted Allen and subsequently chose him for the role of "Buzz" in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). This led to featured roles in another dozen films such as Private Property (1960), Party Girl (1958), Darby's Rangers (1958) and The Chapman Report (1962). Allen also appeared in many leading television series including Perry Mason (1957) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955). Meanwhile, he created, directed for and co-produced the Freeway Circuit Theatre which toured the Southwest for six seasons. Allen also directed numerous Equity productions in Los Angeles theatres. This led to a thirty year directorial career in television and film during which he directed three movies including Avalanche; television movies including the Emmy winning The Ann Jillian Story (1988); created a dozen pilots for television series including Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Simon & Simon (1981), Code Name: Foxfire (1985), Stone (1979) and Capitol (1982). He has earned two Directors Guild nominations for Best Direction in a television series, the Award for Cable Excellence for Best Direction of The Paper Chase (1978) and received an Emmy for Best Direction of a Hill Street Blues (1981). Throughout this career, Allen instructed acting, including three years at the Actors Workshop, and for the last nine years, conducted cold reading workshops at the Margie Haber Studio. Allen was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Columbia College-Hollywood for his work in helping to create their acting and directing curricula.

Acting credits

Rebel Without a Cause poster
7.5

After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

Rebel Without a Cause

1955

The Mad Magician poster
6.9

Don Gallico is an inventor of stage magic effects who aspires to become a star in his own right. Just before his first performance his act is shut down by capricious manager Ross Ormond who wants Gallico's brilliant buzz saw effect for the act of The Great Rinaldi, an established star. With this defeat, and the humiliation of having already lost his wife Claire to Ormond, Gallico decides it is time to take matters into his own hands.

The Mad Magician

1954

Sweet Bird of Youth poster
6.7

Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.

Sweet Bird of Youth

1962

The Bridges at Toko-Ri poster
6.0

A U.S. Navy pilot and his squad are assigned to bomb a group of heavily defended bridges deep behind enemy lines during the Korean War.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri

1954

Party Girl poster
6.8

Slick lawyer Thomas Farrell has made a career of defending mobsters in trials. It's not until he meets a lovely showgirl at a mob party that he realizes that there's more to life than winning trials. Farrell tries to quit the racket, but mob boss Rico Angelo threatens to hurt the showgirl if Farrell leaves him.

Party Girl

1958

Juvenile Jungle poster
7.4

Planned kidnapping goes awry when gang leader falls for the victim.

Juvenile Jungle

1958

The Works poster
10.0

An off-beat journey of a lonely accountant and his search to find new life in a world full of ridiculous rules, bureaucracy and bad plumbing...

The Works

2005

The Chapman Report poster
5.1

A research psychologist gets involved in the personal lives of four women.

The Chapman Report

1962

Darby's Rangers poster
6.5

Stationed in Scotland, Maj. William Darby and the men under his command are trained by British commandos, becoming the U.S. Army's 1st Ranger Battalion. Their drilling period is rigorous, but the men find time to romance local women before being deployed to fight the Nazis. U.S. forces battle from French North Africa to Italy, but when a surprise attack decimates the 1st and 3rd Battalions at the Battle of Cisterna, Darby and the 4th Battalion must come to their aid.

Darby's Rangers

1958

The Big Caper poster
6.3

A con artist moves into a small town to spearhead a payroll robbery.

The Big Caper

1957

Key Witness poster
6.9

An average Los Angeles citizen witnesses a gang murder when he stops to use a telephone. When he presents himself to the LAPD as the only person willing to identify the culprits, he opens himself up to a campaign of intimidation from the gang involved.

Key Witness

1960

The Shadow on the Window poster
5.9

Three delinquents murder a prosperous farmer at an isolated farm house. One witness to the crime - the dead man's secretary - is then taken hostage. The other witness - her young son - is thrown into state of shock. Can he recover soon enough to help the police - and his father - rescue his mother before it's too late?

The Shadow on the Window

1957

James Dean: Sense Memories poster
NR

Documentary exploring the last 18 months of James Dean's acting career.

James Dean: Sense Memories

2005

Private Property poster
6.3

A hoodlum plots to seduce a lonely housewife and turn her over to his virginal friend.

Private Property

1960

James Dean: The First American Teenager poster
7.5

Stacy Keach narrates this documentary that chronicles the abbreviated life and career of iconic brooding bad boy James Dean, from his obscure early days working in television to his rise to stardom in films such as Rebel Without a Cause. Clips from Dean's movies are intermingled with candid interviews with the star's friends and Hollywood colleagues, including Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dennis Hopper.

James Dean: The First American Teenager

1975

Forever James Dean poster
7.7

The life and times of one of Hollywood's brightest stars.

Forever James Dean

1988

Rediscovering a Rebel poster
NR

A documentary short on the making of Rebel Without a Cause.

Rediscovering a Rebel

1996

The Real James Dean poster
NR

Although he'd starred in just three films before his untimely death at age 24, James Dean cast a long shadow that came to define cool. Using excerpts from Dean's personal diaries, found footage from screen and wardrobe tests and interviews with those who knew him best (including Dennis Hopper, Dick Van Patten, Graham Nash and Rod Steiger), this fascinating documentary explores the screen icon's lingering mystique.

The Real James Dean

2006

James Dean: A Portrait poster
7.0

A look at the legacy of icon actor James Dean on the 40th anniversary of his tragic death. The special follows his life and career, with obvious attention to the three big films that made him a legend; and interviews with the people who knew him.

James Dean: A Portrait

1995

A Time Out of War poster
6.5

Black and White UCLA Student Film, Preserved by the Academy Film Archive. During the American Civil War, two Union soldiers and a Confederate solider fire at each other from across a brook. The two sides negotiate a one-hour truce, from which they develop a bond. Based on the short story "Pickets" (1897) by Robert W. Chambers, it was the winner of an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Two Reel) film in 1955. The film is on the National Film Registry for its cultural significance in 2007.

A Time Out of War

1954

Behind the camera

The Return of Frank Cannon poster
6.5

Private detective Frank Cannon comes out of retirement to investigate an old friend and Army Intelligence colleague's death, which has been ruled a suicide, but which smells like murder.

The Return of Frank Cannon

1980

Avalanche poster
3.6

After an avalanche of snow crashes into their ski resort, a holiday at a winter wonderland turns into a game of survival for a group of vacationers.

Avalanche

1978

Avalanche poster
3.6

After an avalanche of snow crashes into their ski resort, a holiday at a winter wonderland turns into a game of survival for a group of vacationers.

Avalanche

1978

The Last Fling poster
4.5

A young woman decides to have one more romantic escapade before marrying her dull fiancé.

The Last Fling

1987

Thunder and Lightning poster
5.1

A young man who hauls liquor for moonshiners comes up against a competing gang of moonshiners who intend to get rid of him and take over his operation.

Thunder and Lightning

1977

Beverly Hills Cowgirl Blues poster
5.5

A Wyoming cop teams with a Beverly Hills policeman to track down the killer of her best friend.

Beverly Hills Cowgirl Blues

1985

Pinocchio poster
4.7

A bawdy burlesque version of the famous fairy tale, Geppeta is a frustrated and nubile young virgin. She carves Pinocchio as a gorgeous young hunk. Geppeta's fairy godmother magically transforms the young stud into a living man, who is quickly brought to work in the local whorehouse as a prize stud and exhibitionist.

Pinocchio

1971

Pinocchio poster
4.7

A bawdy burlesque version of the famous fairy tale, Geppeta is a frustrated and nubile young virgin. She carves Pinocchio as a gorgeous young hunk. Geppeta's fairy godmother magically transforms the young stud into a living man, who is quickly brought to work in the local whorehouse as a prize stud and exhibitionist.

Pinocchio

1971

Moment of Truth: Stalking Back poster
6.1

A teen girl is stalked and harassed by a perverted man ten years older than she is, but despite help from her family, there's little the police can do to get rid of him.

Moment of Truth: Stalking Back

1993

Destination: America poster
NR

A patrician family's estranged, black-sheep son forsakes his blue-collar life to return home and soon finds himself wrongly accused of his father's murder, with his old childhood friend determined to convict him. Pilot to a prospective TV series.

Destination: America

1987

I-Man poster
5.6

When a man is exposed to an alien gas, he acquires the ability to heal instantly and survive any injury or toxin.

I-Man

1986

Cry Rape poster
7.0

A man who is arrested for rape swears it wasn't him but somebody who looks just like him, but the victim insists it was him.

Cry Rape

1973

The Ann Jillian Story poster
5.7

Ann Jillian finds out she has cancer and the movie shows how she deals with that (the hospital treatments and impact on her life).

The Ann Jillian Story

1988

See the Man Run poster
9.0

Kidnappers making a ransom demand dial a wrong number and reach a struggling actor instead. He decides to cut himself in for some of the money.

See the Man Run

1973

Infiltrator poster
10.0

A scientist's experiment conveys him to another lab where his body is fused with a mechanism that can't be easily extracted---its co-creator is holding the device's plans for ransom.

Infiltrator

1987

Brass poster
5.0

The Chief of Detectives of the New York Police Department, is a tough cop who has worked his way up the ladder from being on a beat.

Brass

1985

Stone poster
9.0

Dennis Weaver is a Joseph Wambaugh-type novelist cop and Pat Hingle is his hard-nosed superior who wants him to stick to police work or get off the force in this pilot to the short-lived series.

Stone

1979

The Man in the Santa Claus Suit poster
5.0

The mysterious owner of a costume shop rents a Santa Claus suit to three very different men: a math teacher trying to get the nerve to propose, a homeless restaurateur trying to hide from the mob, and a harried political speech writer visiting with his estranged wife and son. Their lives are inexorably changed by their experience of playing Santa Claus.

The Man in the Santa Claus Suit

1979

Yesterday's Child poster
8.0

A young couple's three-year-old daughter is kidnapped and no trace is ever found of her. Fourteen years later, a young woman claiming to be that girl shows up at the parents' house.

Yesterday's Child

1977

Code Name: Foxfire poster
7.0

Pilot for TV series released on home video.

Code Name: Foxfire

1985

No artwork available
NR

A 1994 film directed by Corey Allen.

The Hero

1994