From my collection: Richard Allan

The handsome boy dancing with Susan Hayward, as star-crossed songstress Jane Froman, in the "The Right Kind" number in With a Song in My Heart (1952) and later dueting with her in the title song was Fox contract player Richard Allan. This and playing Marilyn Monroe's boyfriend in Niagara (1953) were the highlights of Allan's Hollywood career and he later enjoyed more success in, of all things, German musical films. Residing in the show business hinterland of Kentucky, Richard Allan passed away at the age of 76 in 1999. But who was he really? We find some of the answers from a surprising place, a neighbor of Allan's in Prospect, KY, who answered a question about the former male starlet's sexuality on the Imdb:

erichmclaren replied Sep 6, 2009
"Richard lived in my neighborhood until his death in 1999. He lived in the Hunting Hills Condominiums in Hunting Creek just outside of Louisville Kentucky in the suburbs of Prospect. Richard was very nice and soft spoken. He would hang out at the complex's pool with us throughout the summer. He lived alone and some people suggested he may be gay but we never knew for sure. He said he did not recieve any royalties from his films but still recieved fan letters even that late in life. One of my neighbors at the time said that Richard was married years ago to a Mexican woman who was a dancer. I guess they met each other while both were in show business. Obviously the union did not last. Richard told me that he enjoyed working with Gregory Peck and said that Marilyn Monroe was incredible in real life. He said she was beautiful and nice. As far as I know Richard worked right up until the end of his life. He was a greeter at the Wal Mart off Westport Road in Louisville and later quit that job to work at the Springhurst Meijer down the street. I remember asking him at Meijer one time if he liked the job and he just smiled and told me in all honesty no. We both had a laugh about that one. He went quick it seemed like I heard he was sick and hardly any time later he passed. He told me he moved to the Louisville area to be around his brother who was retired from the military. A really intesting man. Of course all the women in the complex could not believe how handsome he was in his younger days. Richard aged well and you could easily recognize it was him in the scenes from Niargra. He was a good guy. RIP Richard."