Allen Bernard Martin Jr. ’57

Allen enjoyed star billing in two movies before Princeton, but abandoned the glitz to teach French, serve as a social worker, and write a guide to Dungeons & Dragons.

Beginning when he was 7, Allen played several roles on Broadway, then went to Hollywood to play the title role in Johnny Holiday with William Bendix and Hoagy Carmichael and give Margaret O’Brien her first on-screen kiss in Her First Romance. 

At Princeton Allen majored in French and Italian, was on the crew team, and was part of Theatre Intime. His senior-year roommates were Jean-Pierre Cauvin, John Forbes, and Jan ter Weele, with whom he visited Batista’s Havana for a week — a journey of “many adventures,” Jan remarked. 

Lacking the height needed to play adult roles in Hollywood, Allen earned a master’s degree at the University of Alabama and taught languages overseas, at Alabama, and at Stephens College in Missouri before moving to Colorado to write game and computer manuals. Next came social work on the Jersey shore, enjoying regular strolls along the Ventnor boardwalk, plus singing in the choir at the Church of the Epiphany, where he often read the lessons. 

A widower, Allen died Feb. 6, 2021, in Atlantic City. He is survived by two daughters, a son, and five grandchildren.