Alan worked on stage as a child actor playing John Peter Pan at the London Palladium before going on to work in film appearing with such actors as Alastair Sim and George Cole. He was later a member of the Donald Wolfit Shakespeare Company before joining the Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA where he partnered Eric Morecambe on stage. Following National Service, Alan joined London's famous Windmill Theatre where he appeared as a dancer and wrote scripts for the Windmill review shows.