Allan Richard Williams (born 17 March 1930 in Bootle, Liverpool) is a former businessman and promoter and the original booking agent and first manager of The Beatles. He personally drove the van to take the young band to Hamburg, Germany in 1960, where they gained the vital show business experience that led to their emergence on the world stage.
Was contacted by Brian Epstein prior to his signing the Beatles up, to ask about their track record and any outstanding contracts or obligations. He had no remaining ties to the Beatles, but advised Epstein "not to touch them with a barge pole."
2
Years after his involvement with the Beatles ended, Williams discovered an old tape while salvaging a deserted music office, of a latter-day Beatles New Year's Eve show in Hamburg. (Fellow rocker Ted "Kingsize" Taylor had made the recording, on an ordinary Philips machine; the now-closed company had hoped to release the tape as an album.) He was able to have the tape released (after remixing; the original quality was poor) through Lingasong Records, in the late 1970s.
3
John Lennon endorsed his autobiography, 'The Man who Gave the Beatles Away', saying that he was the right man to tell their early story. The book is a candid, thoroughly detailed, bittersweet account of his days as a band manager in Liverpool and Hamburg, and the people he knew.
4
Arranged the early Beatles trips to Hamburg, and he drove them personally on their first visit, ferrying his van across the English Channel.
5
Was The Beatles' first manager, who met them when they frequented his coffee bar in Liverpool, called the Jacaranda.
6
Was closest to Stuart Sutcliffe, of any of the Beatles, but was disappointed that Stuart was the one who wrote him from Germany, to say the band was letting him go as their manager. (He had no contract with them; many of his business papers were lost in a fire, at one of his other ventures.) Nonetheless, he mourned Stuart as an old friend, when he died the next year.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
And the Beat Goes On
1996
TV Series
Vince Barron
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Beatles Anthology
1995
TV Mini-Series documentary photographic archive material courtesy of - 1 episode
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Some Other Guys
Documentary post-production
Himself
Beatles' Biggest Secrets
2007
Himself
Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle
2005
TV Movie documentary
Himself - The Beatles' First Manager
Best of the Beatles
2005
Video documentary
Himself - The Beatles' First Manager
The Beatles with Tony Sheridan
2004
Video documentary
Himself - Former Beatles Agent
I Knew John Lennon
2003
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Inside John Lennon
2003
Video documentary
Himself
Day to Day
2001
TV Series
Himself
Imagine: John Lennon
1988
Documentary
Himself - Beatles' Booking Agent
The Compleat Beatles
1982
Video documentary
Himself - Beatles' First Manager
Sin on Saturday
1982
TV Series
Himself
All You Need Is Love
1977
TV Series documentary
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Kult am Sonntag
2009
TV Series
Himself
Known for movies
The Compleat Beatles (1982) as Himself - Beatles' First Manager
The Beatles with Tony Sheridan (2004) as Himself - Former Beatles Agent
Imagine: John Lennon (1988) as Himself - Beatles' Booking Agent
Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle (2005) as Himself - The Beatles' First Manager
$14 Million
