Allen Swift Biography

Allen Swift
Allen Swift

is on a leave of absence from New York’s longest running comedy, Over the River and Through the Woods and will return to it at the conclusion of this production. This is Allen Swift’s fourth appearance at McCarter Theatre under the direction of Emily Mann. He was Ferapont in Three Sisters, Malachi Stack in The Matchmaker and played four juicy characters in Meshugah. He started as a stand-up comedian in nightclubs and vaudeville, culminating in his appearance at the famed New York Palace Theatre. As a character actor in the days of dramatic Radio, he easily made the transition to TV as the voice of Howdy Doody and his friends in the children’s show and as Captain Allen Swift, the host of the Popeye show in New York. Broadway credits include The Iceman Cometh with Jason Robards, Checking Out, The Student Gypsy, My Old Friends and How to Make a Man. Off Broadway and regional theaters: Arthur Miller’s The Price, The Sunshine Boys, You Can’t Take It With You, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Month of Sundays, Light up the Sky and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (Boris Semeonov-Pishchik) is on a leave of absence from New York’s longest running comedy, Over the River and Through the Woods and will return to it at the conclusion of this production. This is Allen Swift’s fourth appearance at McCarter Theatre under the direction of Emily Mann. He was Ferapont in Three Sisters, Malachi Stack in The Matchmaker and played four juicy characters in Meshugah. He started as a stand-up comedian in nightclubs and vaudeville, culminating in his appearance at the famed New York Palace Theatre. As a character actor in the days of dramatic Radio, he easily made the transition to TV as the voice of Howdy Doody and his friends in the children’s show and as Captain Allen Swift, the host of the Popeye show in New York. Broadway credits include The Iceman Cometh with Jason Robards, Checking Out, The Student Gypsy, My Old Friends and How to Make a Man. Off Broadway and regional theaters: Arthur Miller’s The Price, The Sunshine Boys, You Can’t Take It With You, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Month of Sundays, Light up the Sky and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

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Recent Performances
Production/Role WhereOpening Night
The Cherry Orchard ......Boris Semeonov-Pishchik McCarter Theatre 3/28/2000
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