Actor and director Corey Allen died 27 June 2010, of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Born Alan Cohen on 29 June 1934 in Cleveland, Ohio, he won an Emmy Award for directing (Hill Street Blues) in 1984, and was nominated for another for the same series in 1981.
He started acting while attending UCLA (he earned a degree in fine arts in 1954), and made his acting debuts on television and in movies that same year. His most memorable role came early in his career: he was Jim Stark (James Dean)’s chief antagonist, Buzz Gunderson, in the 1955 classic Rebel Without a Cause. In the 1960s, he turned to directing, and his acting career petered out in the late 1960s, although he did make two appearances in the 1970s, and two this decade. His last acting appearance was voiceover work in the 2009 genre film Quarantined.
His other genre acting appearances include: Men into Space (1959) and The Mad Magician (1954). As a director, his genre work included: four episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, five episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (including the debut episode “Encounter at Farpoint”), I-Man (1986), Otherworld (1985), The Powers of Matthew Star (1983), and Tucker’s Witch (1982).
He is survived by his brother, daughter, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.