David W. Allen
| David W. Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 22, 1944 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Died | August 16, 1999 (aged 54) Burbank, California, United States |
| Occupation | Stop motion model animator |
David W. Allen (October 22, 1944 – August 16, 1999) was a film and television stop motion model (puppet) animator.
Considered among the finest stop motion model animators, Dave Allen has contributed some of the best stop motion sequences to many feature films, rivaling the work of other premier model animators Ray Harryhausen and Jim Danforth.
Some of Allen's earliest animation work can be seen in the 1970 16mm student film, Equinox expanded from a short film to a feature-length film by Jack H. Harris, later re-titled The Beast for VHS video release in the 80s.
Although he had been working for years in animation, mostly doing commercials like the Pillsbury Doughboy, Allen made a splash on movie viewers when he animated the "Nesuahyrrah" monster who appears at the climax of the semi-porn low-brow parody comedy, Flesh Gordon, produced by Howard Ziehm in 1974. The film also featured an impressive animation sequence from long-time Allen friend Jim Danforth.
Allen's ground-breaking model animation opus contribution was a legendary Volkswagen commercial made in 1972 in which King Kong spots a giant version of the car from his Empire State Building perch in New York. Climbing down from the building, Kong puts his human "date" into the passenger seat, gets in the car, and drives down Fifth Avenue out of sight. The spot aired only once on network TV, and in spite of favorable public response, was pulled because VW executives decided that they did not like the image of an ape driving their car.
Allen joined with Jim Danforth, a long-time friend, to provide model animation for the low-budget horror film, The Crater Lake Monster (1977), and animated the aliens in another low-budget science fiction film, Laserblast, (1978).
With Danforth, Ray Harryhausen, a host of other model animators, visual effects artists, film producers and directors, Allen helped organize an event in March 1983 at Mann's Chinese Theater commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the release of King Kong, loaning his VW Kong model for display at the Roosevelt Hotel across the street from the theater.
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