Allan Roberts (songwriter)

Allan Roberts (March 12, 1905 – January 14, 1966) was an American musician and songwriter, whose songs, co-written with Doris Fisher and other writers, were successfully recorded by the Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, the Ink Spots, Billie Holiday, the Andrews Sisters, Marilyn Monroe, Perry Como, and many others.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and trained as an accountant before working as a pianist in clubs and shows on and around Broadway, where he met and worked with theater and film producer Mike Todd. He wrote "You Opened My Eyes" for the Bill Barry Orchestra in 1935; and in 1937 co-wrote, with Irving Gordon and Alvin S. Kaufman, the song "Me, Myself, and I", which was recorded by Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and others.

He met aspiring songwriter Doris Fisher, the daughter of respected Tin Pan Alley songwriter and music publisher Fred Fisher, and in 1944 the two began collaborating on songs. They found immediate success with such popular songs as "You Always Hurt the One You Love", "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall", "That Ole Devil Called Love", "Angelina (The Waitress at the Pizzeria)", and "Invitation to the Blues", which he co-wrote with Fisher and Arthur Gershwin, the younger brother of George and Ira Gershwin. In 1945, he and Fisher were signed by Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures in Hollywood to a seven-year contract to supply songs for films. They had immediate success with the songs "Amado Mio" and "Put the Blame on Mame", written for Gilda starring Rita Hayworth, and in all contributed to about twenty films for the company, including Dead Reckoning and The Lady from Shanghai.