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By Richard Pearson, Washington Post Staff Writer
February 25, 2002
Word has come out of Africa telling of the death of Bunny Allen, a Great White Hunter who became a legendary success in the pursuit of both big game and beautiful women.
Mr. Allen, 95, died in late January at his home on the island of Lamu off the coast of Kenya.
The exact date and cause of his death were not reported.
Mr. Allen, a native of Kent, England, traveled to Kenya in 1927, intending to become a hunter. He showed both flair and skill.
Within a year, he was second gun to Denys Finch Hatton, the lover of "Out of Africa" author Karen Blixen, on a safari led by the Prince of Wales.
Mr. Allen also often hunted with Philip Percival, upon whom Ernest Hemingway based the character of Pop in "The Green Hills of Africa."
During World War II, Mr. Allen served in the 6th Kings African Rifles in East Africa against the Italians.
He added to his legend as a hunter when lions began preying on British and Italian soldiers and native Africans.
Several lions had taken to stalking humans after the beasts found dining on dead soldiers to their liking.
Mr. Allen organized a hunt, baiting it with Italian corpses, and killed two lions -- and the attacks on humans stopped.
Eventually, through enemy lines, came a message to the man who had killed the lions, thanking him and congratulating him on his work and concluding, "Now we can get on with the war."
After the war, Mr. Allen returned to the hunt. He led safaris for the rich and famous, safaris that were as successful as they were expensive. He was a suave master of his craft, seemingly always finding the right game as well as making sure his clients had a memorable time socially.
In the 1950s, Hollywood was more than ever in love with African epic adventure stories and retained Mr. Allen to help tell the tale.
Hollywood and Mr. Allen seemed made for each other. He helped locate wildlife, stage shooting scenes and even stood in for actors.
He worked on both "King Solomon's Mines" (1950) and "Where No Vultures Fly" (1951). He also scouted locations for "The African Queen."
Then, for the 1953 John Ford classic "Mogambo," Mr. Allen supervised what was to be one of the largest and most famous safaris ever to hit the continent.
He organized and supervised a movable city of more than 300 tents while also supervising the work of more than 20 white hunters, countless bearers and more than 1,000 Samburu warriors. Mr. Allen also stood in for "Mogambo's" leading male star, Clark Gable, in dangerous shooting scenes.
Mr. Allen was so popular with the company and so important in the film's great success that he went on publicity tours with the film's three leading stars, even appearing on the TV game show "What's My Line?"
While all this was going on, Mr. Allen reportedly managed to carry on romances with both of Gable's co-stars, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner.
In the course of his long and busy life, Mr. Allen's name also was romantically linked with such other notables as Blixen, the writer-aviator Beryl Markham, "Born Free" author Joy Adamson and countless other women who were more beautiful than famous.
Stories about his Mogambo period emphasize that facing lions was one thing, but that Mr. Allen really showed his courage in romancing Gardner while she was married to Frank Sinatra.
Courage, if not common sense, was something Mr. Allen seemed to have to spare.
He hunted and faced down all the usual suspects, lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos and Cape buffalo.
He always maintained that he killed very few elephants and that nearly all of those were rogues that attacked villages.
He hunted long, hard and usually successfully. A story in his obituary in London's Daily Mail told of the time he killed a rhino with a Masai spear and then quickly shot three more in the space of 20 seconds with his rifle.
He did experience the odd mishap. Over the years, he had been gored by buffalo and bitten by a leopard (whose tooth he wore for years), and had his nose broken three times, once by a lion. ("He chipped his claws," the unbowed hunter boasted.) He also lost a finger in a car accident.
Probably his closest call came when he was in his fifties.
He was facing down five charging Cape buffaloes, shooting two before running out of ammunition.
By the time he realized this, an animal was nearly upon him. By leaping up and grabbing the buffalo's horns, he managed to somersault aboard.
Finding himself suddenly upon the animal, he rode it until another hunter managed to kill it.
Frank Maurice Allen was born in England, to a father who worked for an insurance company and who was said to be part Roma, or gypsy.
He grew up in Berkshire, where he got to know gypsies, who taught him hunting and woodland lore. He was given his nickname because of his skill in snaring rabbits. He lived in Canada for a while before going to Africa.
His best days as a hunter were long over by 1977, when Kenya outlawed big game hunting. Later in life, Mr. Allen guided groups to view animals before retiring to his Indian Ocean retreat.
He walked the beaches bare-chested in a native skirt with sandals made from old car tires.
He wrote three volumes of memoirs, read the poetry of Rupert Brooke and made marmalade.
Mr. Allen was the subject of a 1996 film documentary, "A Gypsy in Africa."
His first marriage, to the former Babs Borrius, ended in divorce. His second wife, the former Murielle Joffe, died five years ago.
Survivors include his third wife and companion of 40 years, the former Jeri Warden, and three children from his first marriage.
February 25, 2002
Word has come out of Africa telling of the death of Bunny Allen, a Great White Hunter who became a legendary success in the pursuit of both big game and beautiful women.
Mr. Allen, 95, died in late January at his home on the island of Lamu off the coast of Kenya.
The exact date and cause of his death were not reported.
Mr. Allen, a native of Kent, England, traveled to Kenya in 1927, intending to become a hunter. He showed both flair and skill.
Within a year, he was second gun to Denys Finch Hatton, the lover of "Out of Africa" author Karen Blixen, on a safari led by the Prince of Wales.
Mr. Allen also often hunted with Philip Percival, upon whom Ernest Hemingway based the character of Pop in "The Green Hills of Africa."
During World War II, Mr. Allen served in the 6th Kings African Rifles in East Africa against the Italians.
He added to his legend as a hunter when lions began preying on British and Italian soldiers and native Africans.
Several lions had taken to stalking humans after the beasts found dining on dead soldiers to their liking.
Mr. Allen organized a hunt, baiting it with Italian corpses, and killed two lions -- and the attacks on humans stopped.
Eventually, through enemy lines, came a message to the man who had killed the lions, thanking him and congratulating him on his work and concluding, "Now we can get on with the war."
After the war, Mr. Allen returned to the hunt. He led safaris for the rich and famous, safaris that were as successful as they were expensive. He was a suave master of his craft, seemingly always finding the right game as well as making sure his clients had a memorable time socially.
In the 1950s, Hollywood was more than ever in love with African epic adventure stories and retained Mr. Allen to help tell the tale.
Hollywood and Mr. Allen seemed made for each other. He helped locate wildlife, stage shooting scenes and even stood in for actors.
He worked on both "King Solomon's Mines" (1950) and "Where No Vultures Fly" (1951). He also scouted locations for "The African Queen."
Then, for the 1953 John Ford classic "Mogambo," Mr. Allen supervised what was to be one of the largest and most famous safaris ever to hit the continent.
He organized and supervised a movable city of more than 300 tents while also supervising the work of more than 20 white hunters, countless bearers and more than 1,000 Samburu warriors. Mr. Allen also stood in for "Mogambo's" leading male star, Clark Gable, in dangerous shooting scenes.
Mr. Allen was so popular with the company and so important in the film's great success that he went on publicity tours with the film's three leading stars, even appearing on the TV game show "What's My Line?"
While all this was going on, Mr. Allen reportedly managed to carry on romances with both of Gable's co-stars, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner.
In the course of his long and busy life, Mr. Allen's name also was romantically linked with such other notables as Blixen, the writer-aviator Beryl Markham, "Born Free" author Joy Adamson and countless other women who were more beautiful than famous.
Stories about his Mogambo period emphasize that facing lions was one thing, but that Mr. Allen really showed his courage in romancing Gardner while she was married to Frank Sinatra.
Courage, if not common sense, was something Mr. Allen seemed to have to spare.
He hunted and faced down all the usual suspects, lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos and Cape buffalo.
He always maintained that he killed very few elephants and that nearly all of those were rogues that attacked villages.
He hunted long, hard and usually successfully. A story in his obituary in London's Daily Mail told of the time he killed a rhino with a Masai spear and then quickly shot three more in the space of 20 seconds with his rifle.
He did experience the odd mishap. Over the years, he had been gored by buffalo and bitten by a leopard (whose tooth he wore for years), and had his nose broken three times, once by a lion. ("He chipped his claws," the unbowed hunter boasted.) He also lost a finger in a car accident.
Probably his closest call came when he was in his fifties.
He was facing down five charging Cape buffaloes, shooting two before running out of ammunition.
By the time he realized this, an animal was nearly upon him. By leaping up and grabbing the buffalo's horns, he managed to somersault aboard.
Finding himself suddenly upon the animal, he rode it until another hunter managed to kill it.
Frank Maurice Allen was born in England, to a father who worked for an insurance company and who was said to be part Roma, or gypsy.
He grew up in Berkshire, where he got to know gypsies, who taught him hunting and woodland lore. He was given his nickname because of his skill in snaring rabbits. He lived in Canada for a while before going to Africa.
His best days as a hunter were long over by 1977, when Kenya outlawed big game hunting. Later in life, Mr. Allen guided groups to view animals before retiring to his Indian Ocean retreat.
He walked the beaches bare-chested in a native skirt with sandals made from old car tires.
He wrote three volumes of memoirs, read the poetry of Rupert Brooke and made marmalade.
Mr. Allen was the subject of a 1996 film documentary, "A Gypsy in Africa."
His first marriage, to the former Babs Borrius, ended in divorce. His second wife, the former Murielle Joffe, died five years ago.
Survivors include his third wife and companion of 40 years, the former Jeri Warden, and three children from his first marriage.
