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Irwin Allen

Irwin Allen was a television and film producer nicknamed The Master of Disaster for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of memorable and popular television series.

In 1952, he won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for The Sea Around Us.

Allen's film credits include The Lost World (1961), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea(1961), Five Weeks In a Balloon (1962), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno (1974), The Swarm (1978) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

His television credits include The Swiss Family Robinson (1975-76), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-68), The Time Tunnel (1966-67), Lost in Space (1965-68) and Land of the Giants (1967-70).

Allen was immortalized and satirized in song by Killdozer's 1989 song Man vs. Nature, which characterizes Allen as the Master of Realism. The song's three verses mention three prominent disaster films of the 1970's, including The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake (which was not directed by Allen, in spite of the song's misattribution), and The Towering Inferno.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2005.

Irwin Allen Facts

OccupationProducer, Director, Screenwriter
BirthdayJune 12, 1916
SignGemini
BirthplaceNew York, New York, USA
Date of deathNovember 2, 1991 (Santa Monica, California, USA, age 75)

Selected Filmography

The Swarm: Expanded Edition
City Beneath The Sea
The Swarm
The Towering Inferno
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
Rendezvous With Yesterday
Deadly Lodestone
When Time Ran Out
The Village of Guilt
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea / Fantastic Voyage
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