Corey Allen

Corey Allen was an American actor, director, writer, and producer who began in front of the camera and later moved behind it. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts there in 1954. He became best known for playing the gang leader Buzz Gunderson in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and he went on to appear in films including Party Girl (1958), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), and The Chapman Report (1962), along with guest roles on series such as Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Perry Mason. He was active in Los Angeles theater, creating the touring company Freeway Circuit Inc. and the Actors Theater, and taught at The Actors Workshop. From the 1960s he directed television, including Hill Street Blues, for which he won an Emmy in 1984. He died in 2010.