Nancy Allen brings humour and toughness to genre films, and we value her plain-speaking presence in RoboCop. She makes Officer Anne Lewis worth knowing, even when the script seems content to leave her at work.
Fi1m perspective
In RoboCop (1987), Nancy Allen's Officer Anne Lewis has a directness that makes us wish the film would spend longer with her. She gives the policewoman enough life to stand out amid Paul Verhoeven's savage action without making the performance fussy. We were frustrated by how little we got to know her, because Allen made us care about someone the screenplay only partly develops. The film is exceptional; the attention it gives its supporting actors is less consistent.
Before Lewis, the recurring collaborator was Brian De Palma, who gave Allen her first major role as Chris Hargensen in Carrie (1976). Their four films together ended with Blow Out (1981), in which she played Sally Badina. As Liz Blake in Dressed to Kill (1980), she added humour during rehearsals to a part De Palma had written to be played straight and aggressively. She understood that an aggressive character could be funny, and was willing to alter what was on the page.
The move to RoboCop brought wider recognition and a role she would play in two sequels. She prepared for RoboCop 2 (1990) with martial arts and police training, then spoke of wanting Lewis to become more confident and feminine in RoboCop 3 (1993). That is a useful indication of how seriously she took a part the original screenplay had not developed enough. Neumeier and Miner give Lewis fewer complications than Murphy and tend to write supporting characters around their function in the satire. Allen makes us want more of the woman doing the job.
The later supporting work includes Midge in Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1998), a relaxed, funny film we recommend warmly. It belongs on the viewing list, though RoboCop gives us the clearest reason to put Allen there. Begin with Lewis, provided the evening can accommodate some savage violence.
Biography
Nancy Allen is an American actress. Born on 24 June 1950 in the Bronx, New York City, she trained at the High School of Performing Arts and began her career in television commercials before making her film debut in The Last Detail (1973).
She rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s with roles in several films directed by Brian De Palma, including Carrie (1976) as Chris Hargensen, Dressed to Kill (1980) as Liz Blake and Blow Out (1981) as Sally Badina. Allen married De Palma in 1979; they divorced in 1984. She gained wider recognition as Officer Anne Lewis in RoboCop (1987), reprising the role in RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993).
Other credits include 1941 (1979), Poltergeist III (1988) and Out of Sight (1998) as Midge. Allen received a Golden Globe nomination and three Saturn Award nominations. She largely retired from acting after 2008 and has worked in cancer patient advocacy.
