Collin Wilcox, Actress in 'Mockingbird', Dies at 74
Matthew Kruk
Collin Wilcox, Actress in 'Mockingbird', Dies at 74
By MARGALIT FOX
Collin Wilcox, a ubiquitous actress whose face was familiar to television
viewers in the 1960s and afterward for her guest appearances on shows like "The
Untouchables," "The Twilight Zone," "The Defenders" and "Gunsmoke," died on Oct.
14 at her home in Highlands, N.C. She was 74.
The cause was brain cancer, her husband, Scott Paxton, said.
A fresh-faced Southerner, Ms. Wilcox was also billed over the years as Collin
Wilcox-Horne and Collin Wilcox-Paxton. Besides working actively in television,
she appeared in Hollywood films and several Broadway plays.
Her best-known film role was as Mayella Ewell, the young white woman who falsely
accuses a black man (played by Brock Peters) of rape in "To Kill a Mockingbird,"
the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee's novel. Ms. Wilcox's tearful testimony on the
witness stand as Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch cross-examines her is widely
considered one of the movie's most memorable scenes.
Ms. Wilcox made her Broadway debut in 1958 in "The Day the Money Stopped," a
drama by Maxwell Anderson and Brendan Gill. Though the play closed after four
performances, she won the Clarence Derwent Award from the Actors' Equity
Association as the year's most promising female performer.
Collin Wilcox was born on Feb. 4, 1935, in Cincinnati and moved with her family
to Highlands as a baby. In the late 1930s her parents helped found a local
theater company, the Highlands Community Theater, where she got her first stage
experience.
Ms. Wilcox studied at the University of Tennessee, what was then the Goodman
School of Drama in Chicago and the Actors Studio in New York. In Chicago she
performed with the Compass Players, an improvisational group that was a
forerunner of the Second City theater troupe.
On television Ms. Wilcox came to wide attention in 1958, when she starred in a
live television production of "The Member of the Wedding." (An adaptation of
Carson McCullers's novel, it was directed by Robert Mulligan, who later directed
"To Kill a Mockingbird.") To land the role of Frankie, the story's preadolescent
heroine, Ms. Wilcox, then in her early 20s, appeared at the audition with her
hair shorn, her breasts bound with dishtowels and her face dotted with
"freckles" of iodine.
Ms. Wilcox's first marriage, to Walter Beakel, ended in divorce, as did her
second, to Geoffrey Horne. She is survived by her third husband, Mr. Paxton,
whom she married in 1979; three children, Kimberly Horne, Michael G. Paxton and
William Horne; and three grandchildren.
Her other television appearances include guest roles on "Dr. Kildare," "The
Fugitive," "Ironside," "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie."
Among Ms. Wilcox's other films are "Catch-22" (1970), "Jaws 2" (1978), "Marie"
(1985) and the TV movie "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," broadcast on
CBS in 1974.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Matthew Kruk
news:UYQDm.76730$Gs....@en-nntp-01.dc1.easynews.com...
> ... "The Twilight Zone," ...
Can't forget this episode ... Number 12 Looks Just Like You:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaVo2xifmSw
Brigid Nelson
b
BobF
[Default] On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:12:27 -0600, "Matthew Kruk"
<anyw...@wind.blows> magnanimously proffered:
>October 22, 2009
>Collin Wilcox, Actress in 'Mockingbird', Dies at 74
Interesting interview with photos:
http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/an-interview-with-collin-wilcox/
Photos:
http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsW/18352-9839.gif
http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsW/18352-19714.gif
http://classictvhistory.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/vlcsnap-13450072.jpg
--
"But I'll bet you didn't know that pizza is an American invention!"
- From "The Sayings of Roy"
Matthew Kruk
news:7ka9vaF...@mid.individual.net...
Agreed. One of my favorite episodes.
Matthew Kruk
news:7kaapeF...@mid.individual.net...
>
> [Default] On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:12:27 -0600, "Matthew Kruk"
> <anyw...@wind.blows> magnanimously proffered:
>
>>October 22, 2009
>>Collin Wilcox, Actress in 'Mockingbird', Dies at 74
>
> Interesting interview with photos:
>
> http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/an-interview-with-collin-wilcox/
Thank you very much for that one Bob!
Stephen Bowie
talking with her husband this morning:
Hyfler/Rosner
This is great. Thanks so much for posting.
Harvey Fenwick Lung
of the more memorable episodes.
R.I.P.
BobF
[Default] On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:26:53 -0700 (PDT), Stephen Bowie
<stephe...@hotmail.com> magnanimously proffered:
>Here's a little bit of a followup to my interview with Collin, after
>talking with her husband this morning:
>
>http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/collin/
Thanks for the link. The penny finally dropped ... you conducted
*both* interviews.
--
"Walter Cronkite is 92 years old. He's probably accomplished
everything he could accomplish in his life. It's best for him to go.
He's led a great life with wonderful experiences. He has absolutely
nothing to regret.
Besides, I thought he was dead anyway."
Matthew Kruk
> ...
> "Walter Cronkite is 92 years old. He's probably accomplished
> everything he could accomplish in his life. It's best for him to go.
> He's led a great life with wonderful experiences. He has absolutely
> nothing to regret.
>
> Besides, I thought he was dead anyway."
>
> - From "The Sayings of Roy"
Gawd that saying takes the cake ...