The Stevie Allen Trust Fund (STAT Fund)
This fund has been established in memory of Stevie Allen, who died at the age of 64 in March 2023. Stevie was an exceptional individual who packed a great deal into his too short life.
The STAT Fund will support the incredible work of the School of Health Sciences at ɬ. The Fund will be open to support all areas of the school, with a particular focus on Art Therapies. As the Fund establishes itself over the coming years, this page will be updated to show the impact this support is having.
More about Stevie
Born in February 1959, he grew up in East Kilbride, near Glasgow. After leaving school he worked as a lab technician in schools around his hometown but held a strong interest in acting by participating in local theatre groups. This love of acting culminated in his taking the three-year degree course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (previously the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama). He went on to have a successful career on stage and screen with his most notable roles being Lewis Reid, one of the leading characters in Tinsel Town, and Manky Franky in Still Game.
Stevie was our lovely neighbour for many years. Always happy to chat. His biggest fan was our collie dog Tibbie. They had a mutual admiration club! We loved his unique Glasgow humour. But we never realised that he was actually an actor and we were living next to Mankie Frankie from "Still Game!". A talented man, with much to give, taken too soon
His was a full and varied acting career spanning fifteen years. His theatre roles ranged from Shakespeare (Macbeth, Midsummer’s Night Dream) to Edwin Morgan’s groundbreaking AD, where Stevie played the key role of Kohath in its world premiere in 2000.
As well as his notable onscreen roles of Lewis and Manky Franky, Stevie played leading parts in Taggart, Soldier Soldier, Doctor Finlay, The Near Room and other critically acclaimed film and television shows. In the 1990s, his became a household face when he took on the role of the ‘Scottish Power Man’; a TV advertising campaign which ran for years and is well-remembered as Stevie ‘igniting’ his thumb at the end of each advert.
I remember, very fondly, my first night out with Stevie. I think we were both nervous but quickly relaxed into an evening filled with Stevie’s warmth and good humour, peppered with a seemingly endless store of hilarious off-the-record celebrity tales. As I got to know him, I discovered Stevie to have very many facets to his character, a multi-sided person, all rolled into one kind and caring diamond.
After a successful acting career, Stevie decided on a career change and took on the challenge of becoming a paramedic. Stevie enjoyed the patient contact, the variety of the work, the stimulation of using his brain in a different way and especially the opportunities to teach and role play. Speaking to his colleagues the oft-repeated phrase one hears is Stevie was exceptional at his job, both in hands-on clinical work, and with flair and originality (helped by his acting training) in teaching new and junior staff.
Stevie taught his students the most important thing they could do was not be distracted by the machinery of the gadgets but always to look closely at the patient in front of them. He used to tell them “the two most important pieces of kit you have are your eyes”. As in acting – and every other aspect of his life – Stevie made his mark, particularly in the case of an eleven-year old boy who had gone into cardiac arrest from a congenital abnormality and whose life he saved; Stevie does indeed live on in the hearts and lives of others. It says a great deal about the respect he was held in, and the place he had in the organisation, when news of his passing reached the national headquarters, they lowered their flag to half mast as a mark of respect for the loss of a dear colleague.
A warm smile and open arms. The instant picture conjured in my mind when I think of Stevie.
In the midst of all this talent, experience, and ability, Stevie’s great passion was nature and animals; in particular his collie dog of eighteen years Gemma, who Stevie loved dearly. His knowledge of nature was encyclopaedic, bordering on being exhaustive and he could give most nature guides a run for their money in being able to identify species, their habits, and habitats. Finally he loved music with an eclectic taste in all styles and genres. He had a strong, perfectly pitched voice and had sung on stage professionally. But where pop and art rock were concerned his number one love was Bowie, and especially the song Starman, which was played as the closing song at his funeral service, a very fitting term for an astonishing and inspiring individual.
