Biography

Tex Allen taught college at three schools: Community College Of Baltimore County (MD), Towson University, and Durham College (Canada). Tex Allen taught movie history at both the Community College Of Baltimore (Maryland USA) and Towson University (Maryland USA) part time for 5 years from 2004 - 2009 for college level senior citizen classes at both the Community College Of Baltimore County Maryland and also Towson University, Towson (Baltimore) Maryland. During this period, he wrote an unpublished book about Maryland movie history from 1898 - 2004 titled "Maryland Movies, Maryland History" (2004) mostly about Hollywood feature movies shot on location in Maryland from silent movie days through the modern era during the 20th century, and famous people part of that. Tex (David) Allen also taught both Public Relations and Journalism at Durham College (Ontario, Canada) in 1976. In addition, he taught special needs students in Washington DC USA public school system (Syphax Elementary School in SW Washington DC) from 1965 - 66. He also taught religious education at St. Joseph's R.C. Church in Lutherville - Timonium, Maryland USA in the early 1990's (Grade Seven level "CCD" or "Confraternity Of Christian Doctrine" Roman Catholic students).

Tex Allen began work in the movie industry in 1968, and was hired as a regional movie publicist in San Francisco, California USA for Warner Brothers, represented in San Francisco, CA by Jack Wodell Associates Movie Publicity Office. Tex Allen (birth name: David Allen) was hired to promote the world premiere of the movie titled "Bullitt" (1968 Warner Bros.) starring Steve McQueen in 1968 before Tex Allen decided to leave field movie publicity work and begin movie actor work in Hollywood, California in 1970.

Tex Allen's very first movie actor role occurred when he was 18 years old in 1963. Tex Allen was the unpaid lead actor in an Antioch College Ohio student movie titled "The Easter Parade" (1963 Mike Mideke Films) and played the role of "Jesus In Chicago" filmed wearing a Toga and carrying a 7 foot high cross made of welded beer cans through the "Loop" downtown area of Chicago, Illinois. The black and white movie was 15 minutes long, and used the song titled "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" for the music sound track. It was shot during February 1963 in Chicago, Illinois, and first presented to the Antioch College Ohio student body in the school's main auditorium during April 1963.

Tex Allen obtained paid movie actor work in a 1970 UCLA student movie which occurred during June 1970 in Los Angeles, California. Tex Allen portrayed a television cameraman operating a camera in a large TV broadcast studio as part of a UCLA student film made on the campus of UCLA (the University Of California at Los Angeles). Tex Allen was paid $5. for an entire day's work.

Tex Allen (birth name: David Roger Allen) presently (2016) resides in the town of Columbia (Lancaster County), Pennsylvania USA.

[About how movies are made]:

Movies are all about photography, and for an actor, about getting your picture taken. Who does it and how makes a lot of difference.

A two hour feature movie intended for presentation in a movie theater or on a TV screen is made up of roughly 1,000 fragments. The average fragment lasts 6 seconds. A "long take" shot averages about 12 seconds, and a short "reaction shot" type fragment lasts about 2 seconds. Fragments are most often shot out of sequence, and require physical travel to different locations and different movie set shot in movie studios. "Re-takes" of fragments occurs often. Movie directors shoot various scenes and fragments several times, and then choose the "take" which will be included in the released movie. Much more film and/or video tape is shot than is actually used for the finally released "print." Actors and off camera movie production professionals must endure the exhausting process of "re-takes" which are a common and inevitable part of movie making.

Unlike stage actors, movie actors almost never perform a movie story from start to end as the movie audience eventually sees it and experiences. The last part of a movie story is often shot first, the first part may be shot only after the final part is shot, and the middle of the story may be shot after both the end and beginning parts of the story are already shot.

Stage actors who are used to performing a continuous story in real time often find movie actor work difficult, unpleasant, and unsatisfying.

The selection of shot scenes is decided in the editing room, and the presented final movie reflects choices the movie editor makes based on a variety of shots the movie director provides the editor. Not all scenes shot make it to the final movie. Completed scenes and fragments of those scenes (sometimes well acted and important to the story) often end up "on the cutting room floor" and are not used.

The actual production of movies is a process of shooting short fragments which are later "glued" end to end to end until a two hour story made up of roughly 1,000 separately shot fragments makes its way to theater and TV screens.

The movie production experience for actors and others is always made up of shooting short fragments, averaging 6 seconds, sometimes as long as 12 seconds, and sometimes as short as 2 seconds. This is very hard work and movie actors must trust the judgment of the movie directors and editors. Good actor performances may not make it into the final movie.

Movies are a bunch of still pictures run at 24 frames per second, and adding up to roughly 150,000 still photos in a standard 2 hour feature movie.

What's in each of those still photos, and how they are arranged and connected, end to end, makes all the difference between a terrible flop and a great classic.

Actors who do a good job make a big difference, but ultimately, it's all about input from and by many other people.

Movies are a group effort, and if a movie is victorious, it's always a group effort (very, very rare, statistically, over movie history....less than 1% of all released feature movies are classics or even simply good movies).

[About actor longevity and ability to reach old age in health and propsperity, and why lives of many actors end tragically]:

Actor health and ability to reach old age in prosperity are importantly connected to social networking and connections (family, friends, etc.) and also personal financial and material resources not earned through actor work or connection with the movie and televisions industries.

Actors who start out as young unknowns in Hollywood and New York City in the USA and go on to a long and prosperous careers and healthy, happy old age (not many) usually have connections and resources other actors don't.

The "have not" actors who start with few resources and do well are the ones who make a point of getting resources and connections at the soonest possible time. All this has very little to do with acting and artistic ability and accomplishment.

It reflects Darwin's correct "Survival Of The Fittest" hypothesis of fame, and it explains why so many talented actors over history have tragic and often short lives which come to unhappy endings.

[About biographies and autobiographies which are incomplete and/or inaccurate]

People (actors especially) glamorize and congratulate themselves over accomplishments in their lives. Autobiographies are often hagiographies, intended to portray or imply sainthood. Mostly, they avoid times of trouble, pain, failure, unhappiness. I really didn't have a "neat" career/ work life, even though accounts about me I've written and others writing about me made it seem better than it was.

I completed my undergraduate classroom degree requirements at Antioch College Ohio at age 21 in 1965, was hurled at high speed through many dozens of mostly short term jobs. I lived at 88 street addresses (snail mail addresses) over my life, most of them after my Antioch years.

I made no money worth talking about, certainly was unable to save any money, lived many places, had many bad jobs not one of which I miss or was not glad to leave. I was unable to marry and support a wife and children in stable, comfortable circumstances, and this accounts for the multiple (3) short marriages I had, and why I fathered only one child.

It was a rough life.

I calculated I worked at over 96 jobs during my life (more counting one day jobs, short temp jobs, etc., of which I had many).

I lived at 88 places (different street addresses) over my life.

I had mostly lousy jobs, was on the move constantly. Over the decades, basic life expenses (residential rents, motor vehicles, travel, etc.) got more expensive and I made less and less money. I was much more prosperous in my 20s than in my 60s. Finally I was able to retire and live in quiet, reasonable comfort when I inherited family money in 2006 at age 62. Old age has been a lot easier than times during my adulthood before old age.

[About Retiring From Movie Actor Work At Age 70 In 2014]:....

Here is a brief summary of my movie actor career before I retired in 2014:

I began work as a stage (choral singer) performing artist at age 9 in 1953 in Baltimore, Maryland USA and continued into stage actor work (lead actor in my senior high school play 1960, also lead actor in the Baltimore, Maryland USA Catholic Youth Organization annual one act play contest for St. Matthew R.C. Church CYO 1959).

In January 1963, I was the lead actor in an Antioch College Ohio 5 minute student film titled The Easter Parade, shot on location in downtown Chicago, Illinois USA. I played "Jesus In Chicago."

All movie actor career work is intermittent, and my career was no different. All movie actor jobs are "temp jobs" separated by periods of unemployment and non-movie actor jobs.

I first went to Hollywood, California USA to begin paid movie actor work in 1970, worked on many student, independent movies, and finally was hired by major Hollywood Screen Actors Guild signatory studios. In time, I became a member of the Screen Actors Guild, began using "Tex Allen" as my professional name, and was assigned a "name page" on WWW.IMDb.Com, the world's largest movie celebrity information website.

I "retired" from movie actor work in 2014 at age 70 and was granted "honorable withdrawal" status by the Screen Actors Guild (now named SAG-AFTRA).

I'm glad to be retired from movie acting. Movie actor work was very hard work, and included many, many 18 hour days, often lots of physical dangers of various flavors.

Movie sets were often unsafe, especially outdoor, on-location non-movie studio sets (e.g. high speed car chases, explosions, flying debris, dangerous sunburn, frostbite, etc.).

During my career I was injured often, and witnessed and heard about gruesome accidents and injuries other actors suffered. Actors are almost never compensated for injuries they suffer on movie sets, the SAG-AFTRA union usually doesn't help much or at all, and movie employers pass the buck, put the blame on others, and wring their hands.

The life of a non-movie star working actor is always hard, has been that way throughout movie history since early Silent Movie days.

Movie makers like to film dangerous scenes because the public likes to watch such scenes.

Presenting scenes dangerous makes for exciting movies. It's profitable and will never end (and neither will danger for actors) as long as movies are created, and sold to the bloodthirsty public. In addition to problems with physical dangers part of movie making, it is also true that the process of movie making involves shooting of very many short fragments (averaging about 6 seconds long).

These fragments are often re-shot, sometimes many times.

The nature of movie production involves the shooting of many fragments of the movie script out of sequence, and is thus often tedious and unsatisfying and tiring. Movie production days are sometimes very long and exhausting.

Movie actors are in the center of the theatrical feature movie process, and problems and difficulties which result affect every actor, no matter how well compensated or how well rewarded each actor may be.

Movie actor work is always hard work, always exhausting. An intelligent, experienced actor soon realizes this, and takes steps to defend himself or herself from problems always potentially part of movie actor work.

The "art of self defense" must be learned early and internalized. Actor survival depends on that.

Movie making is often dangerous, and not just for "stunt men."

This is true for all people working in an industry where bad labor conditions and practices are commonplace.

Bad work conditions are widely accepted as "unavoidable" and "inevitable." Neither of those conclusions is true.

Making movies under humane and intelligent work conditions is possible, and has been done before in the past.

Labor which cannot be performed under healthy and humane conditions should be refused. It is not sensible or logical to agree to or submit to brutal and unreasonable (and illogical) work conditions whether in the movie industry or in any other industry or enterprise which requires human labor.

Laborers should refuse bad labor conditions, not agree to be part of it or to accept it in any way.

Those who hire laborers have a moral obligation to provide only decent and healthy labor conditions. This includes, but is not limited to, reasonable hours of work.

The wrong motives and bad character of some movie employers along with workers who collude with such employers is at the heart of the problem.

Standing up to the bad guys, refusing to work for them, avoiding them, and evicting them is what the whole situation facing workers is all about.

Surviving and being part of movie making without the bad guys.....can it be done? Yes. It's been done before, and it can be done again. It just takes planning, high standards, and courage.

Hollywood style movie making (not necessarily in Hollywood anymore, and not limited to feature movies and certainly including national television drama filming) is dangerous and has been for a long time.........actually through the entire history of the movies as a big time business which time period extends back to the early 1900's and silent era "primitive" movies.

The history of dangerous working conditions and disasters and loss of life during and as a result of movie making is extensive and legend.

[Why I was married three times, always for short periods]

My parents were my role models, and they were married 62 years. I thought, when I was very young, it was natural to get married and stay married. I had no idea what it was like to be married, or how I would react to problems caused by marriage.

I was always attracted to independent, highly intelligent attractive women, and when I came of age in my early 20's when men and women most often engage in courtship relationships which lead to marriage, adult young women I courted as possible future marriage partners were influenced importantly by propaganda which dominated mass media in the late 1960's and 1970's which advocated radical feminism and extreme independence for adult women who did not desire to be dominated or controlled by males. This lead to huge problems for couples entering into traditional marriages during the late 1960's and 1970's (two of my three marriages occurred during the 1960's and 1970's). Leadership and control of marriages by male husbands was rejected by leaders of the radical feminism movement of those times. Women were exhorted to resist and refuse male leadership, even after entering marriages which began with traditional marriage ceremonies where women stated aloud they would "honor and obey" as well as "love." I insisted, after I was married to each wife, that wives accept my leadership decisions. I communicated a policy to all three of my wives of "my way or the highway." All three of my (independent, radical feminist minded) wives chose "the highway" over their husband's way ("my way"). Confrontations with new wives intent on refusing husbandly direction and dominance occurred in all cases soon after the marital honeymoons ended ..... roughly one month after the legal marriage ceremonies were completed and legal marriage began for me and my new wives. When new husbands face confrontations with new wives at the start of marriages, husbands often back down and accept wifely refusals to be obedient to husbandly direction and demands. It is the price of peace many (most) husbands pay. I didn't feel this was a price worth paying. I had observed the very rocky and unpleasant marriage of my parents (married 62 years until "death did them part"), and I decided I did not want to follow the path my father followed by placating and giving into my mother very often to "keep the peace." Some peace isn't worth having, I decided. Warfare is also horrible. The only way to end otherwise inevitable war is to end the marriage, unhappy and unpleasant as that always is. This is true regarding confrontations between husbands and wives over many non-sexual issues and agreements, but the subject of sexual relations (traditionally socially acceptable only between legally married couples) deserves specific comment here. When I got married (3 times over a period of 31 years), I learned that wifely sexual enthusiasm, cooperation, and availability at the start of marriage does not continue. The price of wifely favors increases over time, and the frequency of those favors diminishes.

I came of age in the 1960's when the Sexual Revolution of that decade was just beginning.

During the year 1964, I turned age 20 and stopped being a teenager! (I had always been immature teen-ager!).

I had a good time with the girls in my 20's.

From 1964 to 1974!

The Sexual Revolution was on..... birth control pills were everywhere ..... girls were ripe and luscious, and most had no last names!

All (well.... most) of the girls I met (my age, in their 20's) wanted to audition for the job of Mrs. David Roger Allen because I seemed to so many of them like the boy most likely (which I was!).

I was a very promising fellow.

It seemed to me girls I met desired to be pensioned off for life, and wanted me to pay mega-money for their expensive children (private schools, summer camps, private colleges, expensive weddings, etc. etc.). I also noticed the domination of the Honey Do syndrome (Honey do this, Honey do that) in marriages which seemed to me to wear husbands down the way dripping water can wear down and erode a giant bolder to the size of a sand pebble. The small tasks and errands wives insist that husbands provide from the Wedding Day and Honeymoon into white haired old age wear husbands down over time, and explain why wives often outlive husbands by 30 years or more.

It seems to me one of best and easiest available summations about grievances married men have about unsatisfactory wives and marriages is contained in the the joke song from the Broadway (USA) hit musical titled My Fair Lady (1956), sung by lead actor Rex Harrison. The song is titled "I'm An Ordinary Man" and has a refrain phrase "But Let A Woman In Your Life" about what often actually happens to "ordinary men" who are satisfied with their solitary lives until they get married, and find their lives dominated by women/ wives. It's a great "gripe song," and contains wisdom as well as humor. A well written song with similar wisdom from the same Broadway show (My Fair Lady 1956), also sung by Rex Harrison is titled "A Hymn To Hymn" and contains the recurring phrase which is also a question.... "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man?" More humor, more wisdom I commend to all people pondering the questions and problems which arise in marriage, and usually are never resolved or corrected.



I got married three times (in 1968, 1976 and 1999), noticed honeymoons always seem to end after one month ......

These marriages reminded me of the Woody Allen joke about Jewish girls (applies to non-Jewish girls, too, I think!): Woody joked that Jewish girls don't believe in sex after marriage! I was also reminded about the famous Wedding Cake joke: Girls stop planning to provide sexual stimulation and relief for their man when they get their first taste of wedding cake.

Men are very gullible, and women are very opportunistic when it comes to the actual realities of marriage, its politics, and its so-called benefits. This has probably been true since the beginning of history.

St. Paul advises people (in the New Testament) not to get married. The Roman Catholic Church sometime around 1000 A.D., began a no more marriages for priests policy. I can see why.