# Allyn Ann McLerie
**Allyn Ann McLerie** (December 1, 1926 – May 21, 2018) was a Canadian-born American actress, singer, and dancer who created the role of Amy Spettigue in the 1948 Broadway musical *Where's Charley?* and later built a long career as a character actress in Hollywood films and television.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | December 1, 1926, Grand-Mère, Quebec, Canada; raised in Brooklyn, New York[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) |
| Died | May 21, 2018, North Bend, Washington, aged 91, of Alzheimer's disease[2](https://playbill.com/article/stage-and-screen-star-allyn-ann-mclerie-dies-at-91) |
| Broadway peak | Amy Spettigue in *Where's Charley?* (1948), for which she won a 1949 Theatre World Award[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) |
| Signature films | Katie Brown in *Calamity Jane* (1953); Shirl in *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* (1969); Rhea Edwards in *The Way We Were* (1973)[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/allyn_ann_mclerie) |
| Signature TV roles | Miss Janet Reubner on *The Tony Randall Show* (1976–78); Carmen Carlson on *WKRP in Cincinnati* (1978–82); Florence Bickford on *The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd* (1987–91)[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) |
| Marriages | Playwright Adolph Green (1945–1953, divorced); actor George Gaynes (1953–2016, his death)[4](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/allyn-ann-mclerie-68293) |
| Ballet interlude | Guest soloist with the American National Ballet Theatre, touring Europe and South America in 1950–51[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) |
## Early life and Broadway beginnings
McLerie was born in Grand-Mère, Quebec, to Allan McLerie, a pilot who died of a brain aneurysm before her birth, and Vera Stewart McLerie, who moved the family to the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.[5](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php) She studied piano and dance, and by age 16 was on Broadway in the dancing ensemble of *One Touch of Venus* (1943), the S.J. Perelman, [Ogden Nash](https://www.edgepedia.org/ogden-nash), and [Kurt Weill](https://www.edgepedia.org/kurt-weill) musical choreographed by [Agnes de Mille](https://www.edgepedia.org/agnes-de-mille).[5](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php)
In 1944 [Jerome Robbins](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerome-robbins) cast her in his choreographic Broadway debut, *On the Town*, where she danced in the ensemble and eventually replaced Sono Osato as Ivy Smith, "Miss Turnstiles."[6](https://jeromerobbins.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jerome-Robbins-Vol-5-No-2.pdf) It was in the cast of *On the Town* that she met her first husband, the writer and lyricist Adolph Green, whom she married in 1945.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) She went on to perform Robbins's choreography in *Miss Liberty* (1949) and the 1960 revival of *West Side Story*, in which she played Anita opposite Larry Kert and [Carol Lawrence](https://www.edgepedia.org/carol-lawrence).[6](https://jeromerobbins.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jerome-Robbins-Vol-5-No-2.pdf)
## Where's Charley? and the Broadway peak
McLerie earned her defining stage success in *Where's Charley?*, Frank Loesser and George Abbott's 1948 musical adaptation of *Charley's Aunt*, starring [Ray Bolger](https://www.edgepedia.org/ray-bolger) and choreographed by [George Balanchine](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-balanchine). As Amy Spettigue, she sang "The Woman In His Room," and Bolger sang "Once in Love With Amy" about her character.[2](https://playbill.com/article/stage-and-screen-star-allyn-ann-mclerie-dies-at-91) The critic Brooks Atkinson, reviewing for The New York Times, singled out her duet with Bolger, writing that "in company with Allyn McLerie" he "turns the antiphonal 'Make a Miracle' into an original and whimsically humorous piece of music."[5](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php) The performance brought her a 1949 Theatre World Award, the only award of her career.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/)
Between stage engagements she made a short detour into concert ballet. In 1950 and 1951 she toured Europe and South America as a guest soloist with the American National Ballet Theatre, whose roster included Alicia Alonso, Igor Youskevitch, and James Mitchell, in a repertory that included Balanchine's *Theme and Variations*, Tudor's *Pillar of Fire*, the Petipa *pas de deux* from *The Sleeping Beauty*, and de Mille's *Rodeo*.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) In a 1951 Boston Globe interview she resisted being typed by her specialty: "I want to be known in the theater as an actress who dances and sings. I wish people would stop classifying me as a dancer who can sing and act."[7](https://www.wral.com/archive/17597927/)
Her later Broadway work included the drama *Time Limit* (1956), *Redhead* (1959, where she understudied [Gwen Verdon](https://www.edgepedia.org/gwen-verdon)), and *The Beast in Me* (1963), a revue based on [James Thurber](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-thurber)'s *Fables for Our Time* in which she played eight roles; it ran five days.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) • [4](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/allyn-ann-mclerie-68293) She had been signed as "first featured performer" for *Funny Girl* in 1964, but her role was cut in preproduction when the show was deemed too long.[7](https://www.wral.com/archive/17597927/)
## Film career
McLerie's first screen appearance was an uncredited singing turn in a nightclub scene in MGM's *Words and Music* (1948), about the music of Rodgers and Hart.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) A Warner Brothers contract followed when she repeated Amy Spettigue in the 1952 film version of *Where's Charley?*, and she appeared in *The Desert Song* (1953) with [Gordon MacRae](https://www.edgepedia.org/gordon-macrae) and [Kathryn Grayson](https://www.edgepedia.org/kathryn-grayson) and *Calamity Jane* (1953) with [Doris Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/doris-day) and Howard Keel, playing Katie Brown, who pretends to be a famous actress appearing in Deadwood City.[8](https://www.filmreviewdaily.com/in-memoriam/allyn-ann-mclerie) During her Warner years she was billed without her middle name, as Allyn McLerie.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/)
After the early 1950s her film output thinned, then resumed with a run of notable character parts: Shirl, [Red Buttons](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-buttons)'s dance partner in [Sydney Pollack](https://www.edgepedia.org/sydney-pollack)'s dance-marathon drama *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* (1969), followed by *The Reivers*, *Monte Walsh*, *The Cowboys*, *Jeremiah Johnson* (1972), *The Way We Were* (1973), *Cinderella Liberty*, and a brief turn as the "wrong" White House source in *All the President's Men* (1976).[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/allyn_ann_mclerie) • [9](https://www.ontvtonight.com/guide/cast/15542684/allyn-ann-mclerie/) Several of these credits came through Pollack, who directed *They Shoot Horses*, *Jeremiah Johnson*, and *The Way We Were*.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/allyn_ann_mclerie)
## Television
Television became the center of her working life from the early 1970s, after she and Gaynes moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1967.[7](https://www.wral.com/archive/17597927/) She guested on *Bonanza*, *The Waltons*, *The F.B.I.*, *Cannon*, *Barney Miller*, *Benson*, *Hart to Hart*, *St. Elsewhere*, and *Dynasty*, among many others.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/)
Three recurring parts stand out. On *The Tony Randall Show* (1976–78) she played Miss Janet Reubner, the caustically hilarious secretary to Randall's widowed judge, one of her signature roles.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) • [5](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php) On *WKRP in Cincinnati* (1978–82) she played Carmen Carlson, wife of station manager Arthur Carlson.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) Her most acclaimed later part was Florence Bickford, the hard-to-please divorced mother of [Blair Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/blair-brown)'s title character on *The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd* (NBC and Lifetime, 1987–91), of which Knight-Ridder's Lee Winfrey wrote that "Florence cares enough to send the very best, and the best is always advice to do it her way."[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/allyn_ann_mclerie) • [5](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php) She also appeared opposite her husband in a two-episode arc of *Punky Brewster*, as a love interest for his character.[2](https://playbill.com/article/stage-and-screen-star-allyn-ann-mclerie-dies-at-91)
## Personal life and later years
McLerie and Adolph Green divorced in 1953, and she married the actor George Gaynes, later of *Police Academy* fame, some months later, in December 1953.[1](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/) • [10](https://www.nndb.com/people/640/000136232/) Their marriage lasted until Gaynes's death in 2016.[4](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/allyn-ann-mclerie-68293) They had two children, Iya and Matthew; Matthew died in a car accident in 1989.[8](https://www.filmreviewdaily.com/in-memoriam/allyn-ann-mclerie) • [5](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php)
Her final screen appearance was an uncredited role as Irina Petrovskaya in *Police Academy: Mission to Moscow* (1994), her husband's film.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/allyn_ann_mclerie) • [11](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0572885/) McLerie died on May 21, 2018, at her daughter's home in North Bend, Washington, of complications related to Alzheimer's disease, and was survived by her daughter, a granddaughter, and two great-granddaughters.[2](https://playbill.com/article/stage-and-screen-star-allyn-ann-mclerie-dies-at-91) • [5](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php)
## References
1. [Allyn Ann McLerie, The Official Masterworks Broadway Site](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/allyn-ann-mclerie/)
2. [Stage and Screen Star Allyn Ann McLerie Dies at 91, Playbill](https://playbill.com/article/stage-and-screen-star-allyn-ann-mclerie-dies-at-91)
3. [Allyn Ann McLerie, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/allyn_ann_mclerie)
4. [Allyn Ann McLerie, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/allyn-ann-mclerie-68293)
5. [Allyn Ann McLerie, veteran of Broadway, TV and film, dies (Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times via MySA)](https://www.mysanantonio.com/nation/article/Allyn-Ann-McLerie-veteran-of-Broadway-TV-and-12962227.php)
6. [Allyn Ann McLerie on working with Jerome Robbins, Jerome Robbins Foundation](https://jeromerobbins.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jerome-Robbins-Vol-5-No-2.pdf)
7. [Allyn Ann McLerie, Veteran of Broadway, TV and Film, Dies at 91, WRAL/New York Times](https://www.wral.com/archive/17597927/)
8. [Allyn Ann McLerie, Film Review Daily](https://www.filmreviewdaily.com/in-memoriam/allyn-ann-mclerie)
9. [Allyn Ann McLerie TV Schedule, On TV Tonight](https://www.ontvtonight.com/guide/cast/15542684/allyn-ann-mclerie/)
10. [Allyn Ann McLerie, NNDB](https://www.nndb.com/people/640/000136232/)
11. [Allyn Ann McLerie, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0572885/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Theater and dance › Stage practitioners and craft*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license