Collin Wilcox Paxton(1935-2009)
- Actress
- Writer
Actress Collin Wilcox extended her given name twice over the duration
of her professional acting career -- billing herself as Collin
Wilcox-Horne and Collin Wilcox Paxton, to be exact. She was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Highlands, North Carolina, and her
interest in theater was sparked by her parents, Jack H. and Virginia
Wilcox, who founded the Highlands Community Theatre (now known as the
Highlands Playhouse) in 1939. She made her acting debut there as a
young girl and appeared in various productions, including "Our Town".
In later years, Collin would dutifully return from time to time and
perform at her theater alma mater in appreciation.
She attended high school in Knoxville, Tennessee and became the
resident ingénue at the regional Carousel Theatre. She majored in drama
at the University of Tennessee and studied performing at the Goodman
School of Drama in Chicago, Illinois, as well as improv at The Compass
(a forerunner of the Second City troupe) where
Paul Sills was the director. There, she
worked alongside up-and-coming talents
Mike Nichols,
Elaine May,
Barbara Harris,
Severn Darden and
Shelley Berman. She eventually migrated
to New York in 1957 and earned membership with
Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio, who saw
great potential in her. She worked there for eight years.
Collins' Broadway debut came a year later with "The Day the Money
Stopped", starring Richard Basehart and
Mildred Natwick, which earned her the
Clarence Derwent Award for "Best
Supporting Actress". Slowly garnering notice for her growing quirks and
interesting, edgy performances, Collin went on to work with the crème
de la crème of Broadway eccentrics including
Tallulah Bankhead in "Crazy October",
Geraldine Page in "Strange Interlude" and
Ruth Gordon in "La Bonne Soup".
Neurotic Southern plays such as
Tennessee Williams off-Broadway
productions of "Camino Real" and "Suddenly, Last Summer" fit her like a
glove. In Los Angeles, she appeared in "The Sea Gull" under the
direction of John Houseman,
"Period of Adjustment" with
William Windom and "Getting Out" with
Susan Clark. Williams, himself,
chose Collin to repeat her leading role as "Isabel" in "Period of
Adjustment", when the play went to London.
Collin's film debut came with her brilliant, award-worthy role as young
"Mayella", whose Southern white trash teenager, under the duress of her
racist father, falsely accuses black man
Brock Peters of rape in
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
Her cross-examination courtroom sequence with Peters' hired attorney,
Gregory Peck, is unforgettable. No other
film role would have the same impact as that once-in-a-lifetime part.
Prior to this, "Mockingbird" director
Robert Mulligan personally selected the
classically-trained Collin as his TV "Frankie" in a strong presentation
of
The Member of the Wedding (1958).
It was her first television role. For such a strong start, her later
film career would prove strangely erratic, with a number of offbeat
roles in The Baby Maker (1970),
arguably her best post-Mockingbird part, opposite
Barbara Hershey and
Sam Groom,
Catch-22 (1970),
September 30, 1955 (1977),
Jaws 2 (1978),
Marie (1985),
The Journey of August King (1995)
and
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997),
among them.
While Collin graced a number of quality TV programs, such as the
mini-movies
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974),
Foxfire (1987) and
Wildflower (1991) along with
such established series as
Gunsmoke (1955),
The Twilight Zone (1959),
The Fugitive (1963) and
The Waltons (1972), it was the
live stage that kept her fiery passion for acting alive. In the late
seventies, she returned to her hometown, met and married third husband
Scott Paxton, and founded the multi-arts
center, "The Highlands Studio for the Arts", in 1981. She served as its
artistic director for nine years as well as its resident playwright and
improv teacher. She and her husband (who has been president of the
Board of Directors) formed a troupe called "The Instant Theatre
Company" (ITC) which reaffirmed her family's name in the commitment to
its town's local theater. The company lasted for close to a decade
before resurrecting again in 2003 with Collin and
Rex Reed performing in a presentation of "Love
Letters".
Married three times, she has two children, Kimberley and William, from
her former husband, British actor
Geoffrey Horne, and one child, Michael,
from the marriage to Scott Paxton. She died
of brain cancer at her North Carolina home in Highlands on October 14,
2009. She was 74.
of her professional acting career -- billing herself as Collin
Wilcox-Horne and Collin Wilcox Paxton, to be exact. She was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Highlands, North Carolina, and her
interest in theater was sparked by her parents, Jack H. and Virginia
Wilcox, who founded the Highlands Community Theatre (now known as the
Highlands Playhouse) in 1939. She made her acting debut there as a
young girl and appeared in various productions, including "Our Town".
In later years, Collin would dutifully return from time to time and
perform at her theater alma mater in appreciation.
She attended high school in Knoxville, Tennessee and became the
resident ingénue at the regional Carousel Theatre. She majored in drama
at the University of Tennessee and studied performing at the Goodman
School of Drama in Chicago, Illinois, as well as improv at The Compass
(a forerunner of the Second City troupe) where
Paul Sills was the director. There, she
worked alongside up-and-coming talents
Mike Nichols,
Elaine May,
Barbara Harris,
Severn Darden and
Shelley Berman. She eventually migrated
to New York in 1957 and earned membership with
Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio, who saw
great potential in her. She worked there for eight years.
Collins' Broadway debut came a year later with "The Day the Money
Stopped", starring Richard Basehart and
Mildred Natwick, which earned her the
Clarence Derwent Award for "Best
Supporting Actress". Slowly garnering notice for her growing quirks and
interesting, edgy performances, Collin went on to work with the crème
de la crème of Broadway eccentrics including
Tallulah Bankhead in "Crazy October",
Geraldine Page in "Strange Interlude" and
Ruth Gordon in "La Bonne Soup".
Neurotic Southern plays such as
Tennessee Williams off-Broadway
productions of "Camino Real" and "Suddenly, Last Summer" fit her like a
glove. In Los Angeles, she appeared in "The Sea Gull" under the
direction of John Houseman,
"Period of Adjustment" with
William Windom and "Getting Out" with
Susan Clark. Williams, himself,
chose Collin to repeat her leading role as "Isabel" in "Period of
Adjustment", when the play went to London.
Collin's film debut came with her brilliant, award-worthy role as young
"Mayella", whose Southern white trash teenager, under the duress of her
racist father, falsely accuses black man
Brock Peters of rape in
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
Her cross-examination courtroom sequence with Peters' hired attorney,
Gregory Peck, is unforgettable. No other
film role would have the same impact as that once-in-a-lifetime part.
Prior to this, "Mockingbird" director
Robert Mulligan personally selected the
classically-trained Collin as his TV "Frankie" in a strong presentation
of
The Member of the Wedding (1958).
It was her first television role. For such a strong start, her later
film career would prove strangely erratic, with a number of offbeat
roles in The Baby Maker (1970),
arguably her best post-Mockingbird part, opposite
Barbara Hershey and
Sam Groom,
Catch-22 (1970),
September 30, 1955 (1977),
Jaws 2 (1978),
Marie (1985),
The Journey of August King (1995)
and
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997),
among them.
While Collin graced a number of quality TV programs, such as the
mini-movies
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974),
Foxfire (1987) and
Wildflower (1991) along with
such established series as
Gunsmoke (1955),
The Twilight Zone (1959),
The Fugitive (1963) and
The Waltons (1972), it was the
live stage that kept her fiery passion for acting alive. In the late
seventies, she returned to her hometown, met and married third husband
Scott Paxton, and founded the multi-arts
center, "The Highlands Studio for the Arts", in 1981. She served as its
artistic director for nine years as well as its resident playwright and
improv teacher. She and her husband (who has been president of the
Board of Directors) formed a troupe called "The Instant Theatre
Company" (ITC) which reaffirmed her family's name in the commitment to
its town's local theater. The company lasted for close to a decade
before resurrecting again in 2003 with Collin and
Rex Reed performing in a presentation of "Love
Letters".
Married three times, she has two children, Kimberley and William, from
her former husband, British actor
Geoffrey Horne, and one child, Michael,
from the marriage to Scott Paxton. She died
of brain cancer at her North Carolina home in Highlands on October 14,
2009. She was 74.