William Allyn; Producer of TV Series, Movie Remakes

William “Bill” Allyn, television and motion picture producer of such successful film remakes as “Cousins” and “Rich and Famous,” has died. He was 71.

Allyn, who began his career as an actor, died Sunday in Los Angeles of complications of heart disease, according to his publicist, Stan Rosenfield.

Born in New York and educated at the University of Texas and Yale Drama School, Allyn landed his first role as a teenager--appearing on Broadway with Marlon Brando in “A Flag Is Born.” He also acted on Broadway in “Ring Around the Moon” and toured with Julie Harris in “I Am a Camera.”

Allyn further honed his acting craft at Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and performed in several television productions.

But his interest in acting waned and he turned to directing, with a UCLA Theater Group production of “Brecht on Brecht,” and then to producing. He wrote, produced and directed a short film, “Some Sort of Cage,” which won first prize at the Festival of the Cinema Nuovo.

Allyn spent many years producing shows for television, including about 350 episodes of “Peyton Place” and such television movies as “And No One Could Save Her” and “The Last Child.”

Often working with his wife, writer and producer Sandra Smith, he produced such television specials as “The Story of Princess Grace” and “Echoes of the ‘60s.”

For the big screen, Allyn preferred to specialize in remakes.

His first major hit was the 1981 “Rich and Famous,” starring Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset, which took Allyn five years to bring to the screen. The film was a remake of the 1943 drama “Old Acquaintance,” which starred Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins as the two competitive authors.

Allyn repeated his success in 1988 with “Cousins,” starring Ted Danson and Isabella Rossellini, which took three years to produce. The film reprised the 1975 French film “Cousin, Cousine.”

Recently, Allyn had been working on a remake of the 1937 “Stage Door,” which starred Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers.

Allyn is survived by his wife, Sandra, and daughter, Francesca.

Services will be private. The family has asked that any memorial contributions be sent to the Cedars-Sinai Blood Donor Facility in Los Angeles or the UCLA Film and Television Archives.