Unlike a lot of eras, Alan Marston came from an affluent family where his grandfather owned wool mills. Through hard work and dedication, he was able to get accepted to and to graduate from Harvard. He drifted into work as a publicist for a branch of RKO studios in New England. It wasn't until he appeared in a season of summer stock that Marston developed an interest in acting.

By the mid-1940s, Marston came to California to follow his dreams of becoming an actor. He turned down work as an illustrator for Walt Disney studios because he wanted to follow his dream of acting. Like a lot of people of the studio era, Marston's good looks earned him a contract through Fox studios and later Warner Brothers where they tried to put him in bit roles. He worked regularly for Fox but he never quite achieved the success that he had hoped for.

During the 1950s, Marston decided to work regularly as a stand-in and as an extra for studios. This allowed him to pay his bills while also allowing him to pursue another career as a freelance writer. Marston quickly developed a reputation as a person who could be depended on to do whatever the director asked of him. Marston was regularly used on location as a stand-in for Warner Brothers where he could be seen in such films as The Cool Ones. Marston was taken to Palm Springs during the filming of the tram scenes and could easily be spotted during some of the movie's biggest musical numbers.

In 1975, he decided to retire from films and concentrate on writing articles for various magazines. By 2003, he was able to achieve his dream of being able to publish a novel called "Yesterday's Dream." While Alan Marston passed away in 2010, he leaves behind a legacy of a hard-working actor who was able to gain a reputation for being very dependable among his coworkers.