In London's West End, he appeared as Laertes in Hamlet, Aimwell in The Beaux Stratagem, and Octavius Robinson in Man and Superman, among many other roles.

He was Captain Eric Simpson in Tunes of Glory (1960) as well as being cast as more stuffy regimental types in such films as Carrington V.C.

(1954) and The Guns of Navarone (1961), (both of which starred David Niven)[5] and as the callous and officious Colonel Cavendish in The 7th Dawn (1964) with William Holden.

[7] In the acclaimed 1985 Suspense Serial; Edge of Darkness, Allan played as Investigative Speaker Mr. Chilwell.

[9] Cuthbertson was long married to Dr Gertrude Willner, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, who had been a lawyer originally, but became a teacher in Britain.