Allen Case

Allen Case, born Alan Case Lavelle Jones on October 8, 1934, in Dallas, Texas, was an American actor and singer whose career spanned Broadway, television, and recording. The son of retail clothiers Casey Jones and Nadine Allen Jones, he attended Southern Methodist University before leaving in his junior year. He began his performing career singing on a Dallas television program and touring in musicals, experiences that led him to New York City to audition for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.

Case's New York career gained early momentum in 1955 when he signed with Columbia Records and appeared on the first studio cast recording of the Gershwins' musical Oh, Kay! That same year he made his Broadway debut in Reuben, Reuben, launching a stage career that would continue through 1971. His Broadway credits included Damn Yankees, Once Upon a Mattress, and Company. In 1967 he took on the third lead in Hallelujah, Baby!, the Jule Styne and Arthur Laurents musical, with his vocals featured prominently on the original cast album. He also toured in productions of South Pacific, Damn Yankees, and My Fair Lady.

Television brought Case his widest recognition. He became a regular on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends before landing the lead role of Deputy Clay McCord on NBC's The Deputy, which ran from 1959 to 1961. Although Henry Fonda received top billing on the series, Case appeared in the show far more frequently than Fonda. The role generated enough public interest that Case made personal appearances, including a 1961 visit to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he performed on KWKH radio and appeared at a rodeo, playing Johnny Horton's guitar at the event.

Between 1958 and 1982, Case accumulated more than 30 television appearances. He guest-starred three times on the CBS courtroom drama Perry Mason, one of those appearances being the role of defendant Adam Conrad in the 1964 episode "The Case of the Ruinous Road." During the 1965–1966 season he co-starred as Frank James alongside Christopher Jones in the ABC Western series The Legend of Jesse James. In 1969 he played Sheriff Pat Garritt in the Time Tunnel episode "Billy the Kid," and in 1977 he appeared on Quincy, M.E. as Stuart Harrison in the second-season episode "A Good Smack in the Mouth." His final notable television credit came in 1981, when he played Harold Knitzer in the syndicated drama The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts.

In the late 1960s, Case entered the fur coat manufacturing business, producing men's coats in materials including wolf, Norwegian seal, muskrat, and sheared rabbit, with prices ranging from $350 to $1,250. On September 22, 1961, he married Bobbie Jones; the couple had a daughter before divorcing on June 27, 1979. Case died on August 25, 1986, at the age of 51, after suffering a heart attack while on vacation in Truckee, California.