Sheldon Allman was an American-Canadian actor, singer, and songwriter born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 8, 1924. He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his World War II service with the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1949, Allman moved to Los Angeles, California, to attend the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. He appeared in twelve films, including Hud (1963), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Nevada Smith (1966), and In Cold Blood (1967). On television, he played Norm Miller in Harris Against the World, provided the voice of Big H in CB Bears, and served as the singing voice for Mister Ed, writing and recording the songs “The Pretty Little Filly with the Ponytail” and “The Empty Feedbag Blues” for the series. Allman was the lyricist for the theme song to George of the Jungle and co-created music for several game shows, including Three for the Money and the 1970s versions of Let's Make a Deal, Masquerade Party, and It Pays to Be Ignorant. In 1960, he released Folk Songs for the 21st Century, a novelty album with science-fiction themes featuring the track “Crawl Out Through the Fallout”, which was later featured in the video game Fallout 4 and the 2024 television series Fallout. He also co-wrote two comedy horror-themed stage musicals with Bobby Pickett: I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night and its sequel, Frankenstein Unbound. Allman died of heart failure in Culver City, California, on January 22, 2002, at seventy-seven years of age.
