Allyn Joslyn
Allyn Morgan Joslyn was an American character actor of theatre, radio, film and television, specializing in comic roles.
Early life and career
Born in Milford, Pennsylvania Joslyn was the son of Orlando West Joslyn Jr. and Gertrude Meyer. He studied drama with Professor E. C. Durfee at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia and later attended Columbia University.
By 1921, Joslyn had joined the Greenwich Village Follies.
It was his acclaimed performance as Robert Law—a character reputedly modeled on screenwriter Charles MacArthur—in the 1935 hit Broadway comedy Boy Meets Girl that first caught Hollywood producer-director Mervyn LeRoy's eye, leading to Joslyn making his 1937 screen debut, alongside that of Lana Turner, in LeRoy's They Won't Forget.
One of Joslyn's great-uncles was the former governor of New York, Edwin D. Morgan.
From 1935 until his death in 1978, Joslyn was married to Dorothy Yockel, Philadelphia-born stage and radio actress—and fellow fishing enthusiast—with whom he had frequently co-starred during the late 1920s. Their union produced one child, a daughter.
On January 21, 1981, at age 79, Joslyn died of heart failure at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Predeceased by his wife, he was survived by his daughter. His remains are interred at Forest Lawn [Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park] in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles.
Selected filmography
Film
They Won't Forget as Bill BrockExpensive Husbands as Joe CraigSweethearts as DinkCafe Society as Sonny De WittOnly Angels Have Wings as Les PetersThe Great McGinty as GeorgeNo Time for Comedy as Morgan CarrelThis [Thing Called Love (1940 film)|This Thing Called Love] as Harry BertrandI Wake Up Screaming as Larry EvansBedtime Story as William DudleyThe Wife Takes a Flyer as Major ZellfritzImmortal Sergeant as CassidyYoung Ideas as Adam TrentHeaven Can Wait as Albert Van CleveDangerous Blondes as Barry CraigThe Impostor as BouteauBride by Mistake as Phil VernonStrange Affair as Bill HarrisonThe Horn Blows at Midnight Junior Miss as Harry GravesIt Shouldn't Happen to a Dog as Henry BartonThe Thrill of Brazil as John HabourIf [You Knew Susie] as Mike GarrettMoonrise as Sheriff Clem OtisHarriet Craig as Billy BirkmireAs Young as You Feel as George HodgesI Love Melvin as Frank SchneiderTitanic as Earl MeekerIsland in [the Sky (1953 film)|Island in the Sky] as J.H. HandyThe Fastest Gun Alive as Harvey Maxwell
Television
The Eve Arden Show as George HowellAlfred Hitchcock Presents as Mort BarnhardtGunsmoke as SamHave Gun - Will Travel as Marshal Lyle McKendrickThe Untouchables as Wallace LaughtonTarget: The Corruptors as Frank BrandonMcKeever and the Colonel as Colonel Harvey T. BlackwellBob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as KeeganRawhide as Albert Ashton-WarnerMy Three Sons as George Summers The Addams Family as Mr. Hilliard The Addams Family as Mr. HilliardF Troop as Colonel ParmenterBen Casey as Alec BatemanThe Addams Family as Sam Hilliard