Karen Allen Biography

Trained at the Washington Theatre Laboratory and Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Karen Allen was primarily a stage actress when she began to accept small film roles in such productions as National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Manhattan (1979), although her most celebrated film assignment was as the plucky Marion in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Spielberg reportedly acknowledged his appreciation of Allen's performance by gallantly kissing her hand after each take; even so, they never worked together again. Allen divided her time between the stage, TV movies and the big screen in the ensuing two decades, preferring roles that allowed her to appear without makeup, with her generously freckled face in full view. Among her more notable post-Raiders films were Starman (1984), The Glass Menagerie (1987), Malcolm X (1992), and In the Bedroom (2001). Temporarily blinded by conjunctivitis shortly before launching her film career, Allen was able to draw from life while portraying the adult Helen Keller in the mid-'80s Broadway play Helen and Teacher. Allen's TV roles included a protrayal of the ill-fated civilian astronaut Christa McAuliffe in Challenger (1990). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

• 1. Hunter: [Starman and Jenny are looking at a dead deer strapped to the hood of a car] Did you cry when you saw Bambi?
  2. Starman: Define 'Bambi'?
  3. Hunter: Huh?
  4. Jenny Hayden: He doesn't understand, he's not from around here.
  From Starman. Submitted by Nick S (8 hours ago)

• 1. Mutt Williams: What's he gonna do now?
  2. Marion Ravenwood: I don't think he thinks that far ahead.
  3. Indiana Jones: I'd cover my ears if I were you!
  From Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Submitted by Jeremy S (46 days ago)

• 1. Claire Phillips: Taxi, can you get me to IBC in three minutes?
  2. Ghost of Christmas Past: Which floor?
  From Scrooged. Submitted by Daniel R (5 months ago)

• 1. Katy: I mean hanging around with a bunch of animals getting drunk every weekend.
  2. Donald "Boon" Schoenstein: No! After I graduate, I'm gonna get drunk every night.
  From National Lampoon's Animal House. Submitted by morgan n (9 months ago)

• 1. Marion Ravenwood: He's name is Henry.
  2. Indiana Jones: Henry? Nice name.
  3. Marion Ravenwood: He's your son.
  4. Indiana Jones: My son?
  5. Marion Ravenwood: Henry Jones the Third.
  From Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Submitted by Javis C (10 months ago)

• 1. Marion Ravenwood: You can't do this to me, I'm an AMERICAN.
  From Raiders of the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark). Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)

• 1. Brian: Where's Pop?
  2. Margaret: Where do you think he is?
  3. Brian: I don't know, maybe a parenting seminar?
  From White Irish Drinkers. Submitted by Fred S (14 months ago)