She was active from 1949 to 2006, beginning in local theater before progressing to both television and movie roles.

[1] She later moved, via Cleveland, Ohio, to Atlanta, Georgia, where she became an educator in the public school system.

[2] Allen was a repertory player with Atlanta University Summer Theater for thirty years (1949 to 1979).

[3] [4] Her first screen role was as the mother of Clifton Davis' character, Gus, in Together for Days (1972).

In 1997, she played Lucille Wright, the real-life cateress of the parties hosted by Kevin Spacey's character, Jim Williams, in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.