Heck Allen

Heck Allen

Born: September 12, 1912
Died: October 26, 1991
in Kansas City, Missouri, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henry Wilson "Heck" Allen (September 12, 1912 – October 26, 1991) was an American author and screenwriter. He used several different pseudonyms for his works. His 50+ novels of the American West were published under the pen names Will Henry and Clay Fisher. Allen's screenplays and scripts for animated shorts were credited to Heck Allen and Henry Allen.

In 1937 Allen began working as a contract screenwriter for MGM animation division. While his early work was for Harman and Ising's Barney Bear series, his longest collaboration was with director Tex Avery. Allen was credited as story artist on many classic Avery shorts, included Swing Shift Cinderella, King-Size Canary, and The First Bad Man, among many others. Allen downplayed his contributions to the shorts, claiming that Avery merely used him as a sounding board for his own ideas.

Allen's career as a novelist began in 1952, with the publication of his first Western No Survivors. Allen, afraid that the studio would disapprove of his moonlighting, used a pen name to avoid trouble. He would go on to publish over 50 novels, eight of which were adapted for the screen. Most of these were published under one or the other of the pseudonyms Will Henry and Clay Fisher.

Allen was a five-time winner of the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America and a recipient of the Levi Strauss Award for lifetime achievement.

Movies for Heck Allen...

Tex Avery: King of Cartoons
Title: Tex Avery: King of Cartoons
Character: Himself
Released: September 5, 1988
Type: Movie
A documentary about the life and career of legendary cartoon director Fred "Tex" Avery.
bee
The River Changes
Title: The River Changes
Character: The Leader
Released: February 14, 1956
Type: Movie
A European village lies close to a river, which is a boundary between two countries. A severe storm changes the course of the river, and the village is now in the boundary of the neighboring totalitarian country.
bee
Wild and Woody!
Title: Wild and Woody!
Character: Various Townspeople (voice)
Released: December 31, 1948
Type: Movie
Woody Woodpecker gallops into a wild western town, which can't keep a sheriff very long due to the notorious outlaw (and sheriff-killer) Buzz Buzzard. Woody volunteers for the position but barely has time to shine up his badge before Buzz rides in with intent to do harm to Sheriff Woody. But Woody has no intentions of allowing Buzz to follow through on his intents.