Greer Allen, Robert, 1917-2005

Robert Greer Allen, a writer, producer and director of radio and television drama, was born in Toronto on 19 October 1917 to Arthur Greer Allen and Eleanor Beatrice Higginbottom. He attended University of Toronto Schools between September 1932 and June 1935 and served as editor of the school journal, "The phoenix". In September 1935, Robert began his studies at Trinity College, University of Toronto, where he was an editor of the "Trinity University review", president of the Trinity College Dramatic Society, and a features editor of "The varsity". He graduated with an honours BA in political science and economy in 1939. Allen's interest in writing, specifically short stories and radio plays, flourished through his marriage to Rita Weyman in 1941. Together, Robert and Rita wrote and submitted many radio scripts for broadcast during the 1940s. In 1941, Robert enlisted as a private in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and was later promoted to the ranks of sergeant, staff sergeant, warrant officer, lieutenant, and lieutenant colonel. His radio production career began in earnest during the war when he was seconded to the Communications Corps and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to write and produce a radio program for the Dominion Network titled "Servicemen's forum", for which he travelled throughout Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Holland, Germany and Denmark. After the war, Robert continued his work for the CBC, becoming a producer for a variety of radio programs, including the CBC's international service, the CBC Radio Orchestra, and music and drama for CBC radio in Vancouver, between 1947 and 1952. Robert's success as a radio producer made him a desirable choice to help launch CBC television in 1952, and the Greer Allens returned to Toronto from Vancouver. As a producer, supervising producer, assistant program director, program director and supervising producer in television drama and special programs, Robert was integral to the production of much CBC original dramatic programming in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Credited as Robert Allen, he worked as supervising or executive producer for programs including "Sunshine sketches" (1952-1953), "Playbill" (1953-1964), "General Motors theatre" (1954-1956), "Folio" (1955-1959), "Ford startime" (1959-1960), "Festival" (1960-1969), "Opening night"(1974-1975), "Performance" (1974-1976), "The great detective" (1979-1982), "Seeing things" (1981-1987), and "The way we are" (1985-1988), and became the executive producer of CBC Drama. After more than 40 years of work for the CBC, he retired in 1990. Robert Greer Allen died in Toronto on 20 August 2005.

2014/07/23 Last updated.
2018/08/04 KCP. Added IMBD identifier and dates.

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