Flo Allen, Trailblazing Hollywood Agent, Dies at 88

By Rachel Yang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Talent agent Florence “Flo” Allen died of heart failure on Wednesday in Monterey County, Calif., her friend and and trustee of her estate Heidi Kleinmaus announced. She was 88.

Allen represented stars like Rock Hudson and Denzel Washington, and brokered the first million-dollar-per-episode TV deal, in the early 1970s, for Hudson in “McMillan & Wife.” She was also a co-producer with Washington at his company, Mundy Lane Productions.

Noted for being a female agent in a male-dominated industry, Allen started her Hollywood career as a private secretary to acclaimed producer David O. Selznick. Later, she worked for 10 years as the only female agent at the agency Chasin-Park-Citron. She then served for 10 years as senior V.P. of the Motion Picture and Television departments at the William Morris Agency. Allen represented numerous actors and writers, including Richard Chamberlain, Julie Andrews, Milton Berle and William Blatty.

Allen was born in New York City, but raised in Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California. Prior to her career in entertainment, Allen was a tennis pro at the Shadow Mountain Club in California, where she played with legends like Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn. She also opened one of the first boutique tennis shops in the country, The Tennis Set, on the Sunset Strip.

Donations in her may be made to Self-Realization Fellowship of Los Angeles, Calif., and to Peace of Mind Dog Rescue of Pacific Grove, Calif.