Born: Nov 27, 1909 in South Manchester, Connecticut
Died: Mar 31, 1978 in Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Actor
Active: '30s
Major Genres: Drama, Romance
Career Highlights: Love Affair, No Hands on the Clock, Hands Across the Table
First Major Screen Credit: The Girl From Calgary (1932)
Biography
There was always something calculating about Astrid Allwyn. "Scratch a chilly 'other woman' and if she were not Helen Vinson, she usually turned out to be Astrid Allwyn," as one commentator put it. Allwyn was certainly "chilly" toward little defenseless Shirley Temple when their paths crossed in both Dimples (1936) and Stowaway (1936) and you could hardly blame freshman senator James Stewart for running the other way when he encountered a slightly predatory Astrid in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Allwyn had made her stage bow in Elmer Rice's Street Scene back in 1929 and her screen debut three years later. She was busiest in the 1930s and retired in 1944 to raise her family with second husband Charles O. Fee, a brood that included future actresses Melinda O. Fee and Vicki Fee Steele. An earlier marriage, to screen actor Robert Kent, had ended in divorce in 1941. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Her first husband was actor Robert Kent; the two appeared together in the 1936 Shirley Temple film, Dimples. They were divorced in 1941. She remained married to second spouse Charles O. Fee until her death from cancer in 1978. Two of their daughters also became actresses, Melinda O. Fee and Vicki Fee.