Allen was born Harold Levy in Toronto, Ontario, Canada[1] He later moved with his parents to the United States, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.
[4] His connection with the Metropolitan Opera began in 1973 when he served as the backup for Milton Cross who had been announcing the Met's Saturday afternoon broadcasts since their inception in 1931.
The smooth, intelligent delivery and warmth of Allen's on-air persona endeared him to millions of opera listeners during his long tenure at the Met.
On the broadcast of January 23, 1988, he extemporized for close to an hour during a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth to cover the long intermission caused by the suicide of Bantcho Bantchevsky in the audience.
At Ohio State, Allen met his future wife, Sylvia, an artist and the sister of the Broadway actor Paul Lipson.