American actress (1935–2009)
Collin Wilcox
Wilcox in 1958
Born Collin Randall Wilcox
(1935-02-04 ) February 4, 1935Died October 14, 2009(2009-10-14) (aged 74) Occupation Actress Years active 1953–2003 Spouses
Walter Beakel
(
m. 1957, divorced)
(
m. 1963;
div. 1977)
Scott Paxton
(
m. 1979)
Children 3
Collin Randall Wilcox (February 4, 1935 – October 14, 2009) was an American film, stage and television actress. Over her career, she was also credited as Collin Wilcox-Horne or Collin Wilcox-Paxton . Wilcox may be best known for her role in
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), in which she played
Mayella Violet Ewell , whose father falsely claimed she had been raped by a black man, which sparks the trial at the center of the film.
Early years
Wilcox was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio , and moved with her family to
Highlands, North Carolina , as a baby. Her interest in theater was sparked by her parents,
[1] Jack H. and Virginia Wilcox, who founded the Highlands Community Theater (now known as the Highlands Playhouse) in 1939.
She attended the University of Tennessee, where she studied drama.
[1]
Career
Wilcox made her professional debut in Chicago as part of the
improvisational group ,
The Compass Players ,
[1] which included
Mike Nichols ,
Elaine May , and
Shelley Berman .
Playing opposite
Richard Basehart ,
Kevin McCarthy , and
William Hansen , Wilcox won the
Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in The Day The Money Stopped
[2] by
Maxwell Anderson and
Brendan Gill , which lasted only three nights on
Broadway in 1958. She starred in the 1961 play Look, We've Come Through with
Burt Reynolds on Broadway. She replaced another actress in the 1963 revival of
Eugene O'Neill 's
Strange Interlude and then went on to do the 1965 play The Family Way , both on Broadway.
A life member of
The Actors Studio ,
[3] Wilcox is perhaps best known for her role in the
1962 film
To Kill a Mockingbird , in which she played
Mayella Violet Ewell , who falsely accuses Tom Robinson (
Brock Peters ) of
raping her. Following that cinematic acting success, she performed two very memorable roles for television in 1964:
The Twilight Zone episode "
Number 12 Looks Just Like You " and
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "The Jar", based on the
Ray Bradbury short story.
She appeared as Bess Frye in a 1972 episode of Gunsmoke titled "Jubilee". In 1974, she co-starred with
Peter Falk and
Robert Conrad in the
Columbo episode "
An Exercise in Fatality " as Ruth Stafford. She remained active performing both on television and in films. Her final role was that of Mrs. Kline in the movie A Touch of Fate , which was released in 2003, six years before her death.
Civil rights activism
She recalled receiving "unfriendly looks" when she showed up at an
NAACP conference in
Monterey, California , because in the film
To Kill a Mockingbird , she played a white woman who falsely accused Tom Robinson, a black man, of raping her. An official had to remind participants: "Collin is here at this conference because she believes in the cause. She is not the character in the film."
[4]
Death
On October 14, 2009, Wilcox died from
brain cancer , aged 74, at her home in
Highlands, North Carolina .
[5] She was
cremated and her ashes returned to her family.
[6]
Filmography
Twice Upon a Time (1953) - Ian
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Mayella Violet Ewell
The Name of the Game Is Kill! (1968) - Diz Terry
The Sound of Anger (1968, TV Movie) - Ann Kochek
Catch-22 (1970) - Nurse Cramer
The Revolutionary (1970) - Ann
The Baby Maker (1970) - Suzanne
Jump (1971) - April Mae
The Man Who Could Talk to Kids (1973, TV Movie) - Honor Lassiter
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974, TV Movie) - Mistress Bryant
A Cry in the Wilderness (1974, TV Movie) - Bess Millard
The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975, TV Movie) - Mrs. Owens
September 30, 1955 (1977) - Jimmy J.'s Mother
Jaws 2 (1978) - Dr. Elkins
Under This Sky (1979, TV Movie) - Susan B. Anthony
Marie (1985) - Virginia
Foxfire (1987, TV Movie) - Madge Burton
Wildflower (1991, TV Movie) - Bessie Morgan
The Portrait (1993, TV Movie) - Chancellor
Fluke (1995) - Bella
The Journey of August King (1996) - Mina
Twisted Desire (1996, TV Movie) - Rose Stanton
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) - Woman at Party
A Touch of Fate (2003) - Mrs. Kline (final film role)
Selected television appearances
The Untouchables
(Season 3 Episode 17: "Takeover") (March 3, 1962) as Ann Gratzner
(Season 3 Episode 26: "Pressure") (1962) as Francie Pavanos
Route 66 (January 1964) (Season 4 Episode 14: "Is it True There Are Poxies at the Bottom of Landfair Lake?") as Diana
The Twilight Zone (1964) (Season 5 Episode 17: "
Number 12 Looks Just Like You ") as Marilyn Cuberle
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959) (Season 5 Episode 4: "Coyote Moon") as Julie (episode aired originally on October 18)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964-1965)
(Season 2 Episode 17: "The Jar") (episode originally aired February 14, 1964) as Thedy Sue Hill
(Season 3 Episode 26: "The Monkey's Paw: A Retelling") (episode aired originally on April 19, 1965) as Selina
Perry Mason (1964) (Season 8 Episode 1: "The Case of the Missing Button")
The Fugitive (1965-1966)
(Season 3 Episode 13: "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys") (December 14, 1965) as Laura McElvey
(Season 4 Episode 9: "Approach with Care") (November 15, 1966) as Mary Turner
The F.B.I. (1966-1967)
(Season 1 Episode 22: "The Baby Sitter") (1966) as Stella
(Season 2 Episode 16: "Passage into Fear") (January 8, 1967) as Hanna
The Virginian (December 6, 1967) (Season 6 Episode 12: "The Barren Ground") as Sarah Keogh
Death Valley Days (October 1, 1968) (Season 17 Episode 4: "The Sage Hen") as Sage Madison
The Immortal (October 22, 1970) (Season 1 Episode 5: "The Rainbow Butcher") as Clarice Evans
Medical Center (October 27, 1971) (Season 3 Episode 7: "The Shattered Man") as Claudia Welsley
The Waltons (October 26, 1972) (Season 1, Episode 7: "The Sinner") as Reverend Ethel Prissom
The Streets of San Francisco (September 20, 1973) (Season 2 Episode 2: "Betrayed") as Katherine 'Kate' Evans
Columbo (September 15, 1974) (Season 4 Episode 1: "An Exercise in Fatality") as Ruth Stafford
Little House on the Prairie (October 31, 1977) (Season 4 Episode 7: "To Run and Hide") as Beth Novak
References
^
a
b
c Lentz, Harris M. III (2010).
Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2009: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture . McFarland. p. 562.
ISBN
9780786456451 . Retrieved June 16, 2018 .
^
"The Clarence Derwent Award" . The Equity Awards . Actors Equity.
Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2018 .
^ Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980".
A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio . New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p.
278 .
ISBN
0-02-542650-8 .
^
"Collin Wilcox Paxton dies at 74; actress was Mayella in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' " .
Los Angeles Times . October 23, 2009.
^ Fox, Margalit (October 22, 2009).
"Collin Wilcox, Actress in 'To Kill A Mockingbird', Dies at 74" .
The New York Times . Retrieved October 22, 2009 .
^ Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016).
Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed . McFarland.
ISBN
9781476625997 – via Google Books.
External links
International National Academics People