Allen Jenkins

Allen Curtis Jenkins was an American character actor, voice actor, and singer born on Staten Island, New York, on April 9, 1900. His father, Robert Oliver Jenkins, was an actor born in Baltimore who descended from a colonial Catholic family that had settled in Maryland in the early 1600s. His mother, Leona Jenkins, born Leonora Cooley, was a musical performer and teacher whose family were primarily New England Yankees from Massachusetts and Vermont. Jenkins's maternal grandfather and great-grandfather both bore the name Ebenezer Cooley. Though he is sometimes reported to have been born Alfred McGonegal, his birth records, census records, draft card, and New York Times obituary all confirm his name at birth as Allen Curtis Jenkins.

Jenkins began his stage career in 1922 and worked on Broadway through 1943, appearing in productions including Secrets, Potash and Perlmutter, Detectives, Blessed Event, Five Star Final, and Wonder Boy. His work across stage, film, and television established him as a versatile performer capable of comedy, drama, and musical roles; he was also an accomplished dancer.

In 1932, Jenkins signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros., where he built a reputation as a gloom-faced, wisecracking character player. The agreement was non-exclusive, allowing him to appear at other studios as well, including in Whirlpool as Jack Holt's sidekick and in Dead End as Humphrey Bogart's sidekick. Though primarily of English and Welsh descent, he was considered part of Hollywood's so-called Irish Mafia, a circle of Irish-American actors and friends that included Spencer Tracy, James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, and Frank McHugh. After his Warner contract lapsed, Jenkins worked as a freelancer for the remainder of his career. As Hollywood studios reduced their feature film output following World War II, he found work at smaller studios including those of Robert L. Lippert, Monogram Pictures, and Republic Pictures.

Jenkins transitioned into television as the medium grew, becoming a regular on the sitcom Hey, Jeannie!, which ran from 1956 to 1957 and starred Jeannie Carson, where he appeared in 26 episodes as cabbie Al Murray. He portrayed Muggsy, a friend of Red Skelton's character Freddie the Freeloader, in 11 episodes of The Red Skelton Hour between 1954 and 1962. He also provided the voice of Officer Charlie Dibble in 30 episodes of the Hanna-Barbera animated series Top Cat from 1961 to 1962, a role for which he became particularly well known to later audiences. Among his many guest appearances were episodes of I Love Lucy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mr. and Mrs. North, Playhouse 90, The Tab Hunter Show, The Ernie Kovacs Show, Zane Grey Theater, Your Show of Shows, Wagon Train, The Real McCoys, Batman, Bewitched, and Adam-12.

On the film side, Jenkins played elevator operator Harry in the 1959 comedy Pillow Talk and had a cameo in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963. His final screen appearance came in Billy Wilder's 1974 remake of The Front Page, filmed eleven days before his death and released posthumously. Jenkins died of lung cancer on July 20, 1974, at the age of 74. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.