Women in Film lauds script super
Allen first of profession to win award
Allen, who has been in the field for 40 years, trained as an assistant script girl at the Alexander Korda London Studios. She went on to work with some of the industry's most acclaimed directors, including Carol Reed ("The Third Man"), Franco Zeffirelli ("Tea With Mussolini"), John Frankenheimer ("Ronin"), Ken Russell ("Women in Love") and Roman Polanski ("Macbeth").
Her talent was recognized early on by Huston, and she worked on "The African Queen," "Moby Dick," "Night of the Iguana" and "The Man Who Would Be King."
She has recently become a valuable eyewitness for documentary makers studying film history. She has contributed to BBC2 docs on Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable and recently appeared in the "Making of 'The Misfits,' " a behind-the-scenes look at Arthur Miller's doomed valentine to then-wife Marilyn Monroe. It was during that production that Monroe accused Allen of having an affair with Miller. The "Making of 'The Misfits' " will be broadcast on Channel 4 in 2003.
Allen most recently worked on the soon-to-be-released "Callas Forever," Zeffirelli's depiction of the last month of opera diva Maria Callas' life.
Allen is the first script supervisor to win the award and joins a distinguished list of previous winners, including thesps Katharine Hepburn, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Diana Rigg, editors Thelma Schoonmaker Powell and Anne V. Coates and the producer and inaugural winner of the award, Betty Box.
