Gary Collins Movies
American actor Gary Collins spent most of his childhood moving back and forth between California and Nevada with his mother. He finished his education at Santa Monica College as an accounting major, never contemplating an acting career until he became involved with camp shows in the army. Hanging around in Paris after his army hitch, he picked up pocket money dubbing English dialog to French films, then moved back to the states, where he was cast in the first play for which he auditioned, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. After a stint on the TV daytime serial The Doctors, Collins worked in stock theatre and returned to Europe, where he showed up in an award-winning "art film" titled Stranded. In 1965, Collins was cast in a supporting role in The Wackiest Ship in the Army, the first of many one-season TV assignments for the actor. During the next fifteen years, Collins starred in the series The Iron Horse, Sixth Sense and Born Free, none of them lasting beyond their first year (Born Free operated under the handicap of being scheduled opposite Monday Night Football. Upset at the progress of his career, Collins accepted a hosting job on the syndicated talkfest Hour Magazine in 1980. At long last, the actor found steady professional work; he proved an above-average emcee, and stayed with Hour until its cancellation in 1989--after which he spent two years hosting the ABC daytime magazine The Home Show. Since 1967, Gary Collins has been married to his second wife, actress and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1998
In this adventure story inspired by the characters from Rudyard Kipling's classic novel, Mowgli the Jungle Boy comes to the rescue of a scientist who became lost while doing research on the rain forest. While finding their way back to camp, they discover a lost city filled with treasure -- only to encounter a man who has heard the legend of the city and its gold, and intends to keep it all for himself. The cast includes Michael Beck, Gary Collins, Lindsay Peter, and Sean Price-McConnell. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Collins, Michael Beck, (more)
- 1998
To prove to Joey that she is capable of performing a good deed with no strings attached, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) makes a large donation to PBS -- even though she has good reason to despise the network (it has something to do with Sesame Street never answering her letter). Chandler (Matthew Perry) overplays his hand when he overhears Monica (Courteney Cox) discussing her terrific "secret" boyfriend with Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). And Emily (Helen Baxendale) finally contacts her husband, Ross (David Schwimmer), begging him to move to London -- but what will Rachel say? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
When a TV producer strikes up a romance with an old flame, a star in his new TV series, their relationship is threatened by mysteries she won't explain to him. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Based on a steamy Danielle Steel novel, this drama centers on the strange relationship between a television producer and the star of his latest series. They had a romance before, but now she has become an enigma, always running off to fulfill some vague obligations. The producer also discovers that other members of the show are concealing fascinating secrets as well. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Plummer, Stephanie Beacham, (more)
- 1981
This is the made-for-TV version of the romantic drama that chronicles the exploits of a group of glamorous women caught up in the entertainment industry. This version contains material author Jacqueline Susann omitted from her original novel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1980
In this fantasy adventure, a young lad gets lost in a dense forest and ends up discovering a tribe that has lived there undetected for thousands of years. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Collins, Mary Ann Mobley, (more)
- 1980
Could it be true? Is the U.S. government really hiding an alien spaceship in the mysterious Hangar 18? According to the producers at Sunn Classic Pictures, the answer is yes, and this sci-fi drama sets out to prove it. The trouble begins when an orbiting satellite runs into the UFO and it crashes. Inside are alien bodies, and the President, who is busy with his re-election campaign, is most eager to conceal them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darren McGavin, Robert Vaughn, (more)
- 1979
Just before assuming the hosting chores of TV's Hour Magazine, Gary Collins headed the cast of Streets of Hong Kong. An orphaned American male is raised by a kindly, wealthy Chinese gentleman. Problems arise when the American expresses a desire to marry his mentor's daughter. Nancy Kwan costars in this slow-moving meller. You know, it's just possible that Streets of Hong Kong was made quite a few years before its official 1979 release; at least, everyone in the cast looks a lot younger than they were in '79. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
In this made-for-TV remake of the 1953 comedy, the wisdom of a young batboy (Gary Coleman) leads the San Diego Padres from worst to first and an eventual berth in the World Series. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1978
- PG
In this violent, low-budget adventure, a jewel thief hides his loot in the bottom of a Brazilian lake filled with hungry piranhas. Later his avaricious gang members try to retrieve the treasure but unfortunately tend to get graphically devoured each time one of them enters the water. Putting the rocks down there seemed like such a good idea at the time! ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Majors, Karen Black, (more)
- 1978
Alice (Linda Lavin) begins dating Jim Thornton (Gary Collins), principal of the high school attended by her son Tommy (Philip McKeon). Instead of approving the match, Tommy is dead set against his mom seeing "Old Thorny"--and not necessarily for the obvious reasons. Originally scheduled to air on October 15, 1978, this episode affords us the first full view of the trailer inhabited by Alice's co-worker Flo (Polly Holliday)--and the first sighting of Flo's much-talked-about boyfriend Bubba (Lou Frizzell). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
In this drama, five beauty aspiring beauty queens are abducted in a hijacked airplane. Also upon the plane is a strain of deadly virus. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Double Kill stars erstwhile talk show host Gary Collins as a bold burglar who picks the wrong house to burgle. His victim is a dissatisfied husband who is planning to murder his wife. Collins is promptly blackmailed by the homicidal homeowner. To avoid arrest, the burglar must kill the wife and make it look like the work of an unknown intruder. Filled to overflowing with plot twists and life's little surprises, Double Kill was a videotaped entry in ABC's late-night Wide World Mystery anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
So you really believe that Gary Collins has always been that apple-cheeked, twinkly-eyed host of Hour Magazine, eh? Wait till you see Collins in the British TV movie Dial a Deadly Number. Mr. Congeniality plays a sleazy unemployed actor who victimizes emotionally disturbed Gemma Jones. Convincing Gemma that he's a psychiatrist, Collins sets off a cataclysmic chain of events. Dial a Deadly Number was picked up for American consumption by ABC's Wide World Mystery anthology; the taped, 90-minute suspense drama made its US debut November 18, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Predating the Oscar-nominated theatrical feature Apollo 13 by over two decades, the made-for-TV Houston, We've Got a Problem dramatized the same real-life crisis in space from a different point of view. It was back in 1970 when an explosion on board Apollo 13 forced Mission Control to scuttle the vessel's intended moon landing. Unfortunately, the astronauts and the NASA control team faced an even bigger dilemma -- the very real possibility that the Apollo 13 capsule would remain hovering in space forever, with no possible hope for a return to the earth. Unlike the film version of Apollo 13, in which the men on board the ill-fated craft were spotlighted, the TV movie focused exclusively on the NASA engineers in Houston, and the families and friends of the endangered space travelers. In fact, Jim Lovell and his crew weren't even shown onscreen, save for a random TV news clip. Houston, We've Got a Problem debuted March 2, 1974, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Only a Scream Away was one of several videotaped chillers to be networkcast on the late-night anthology ABC's Wide World Mystery. In her American TV debut, Hayley Mills stars as a deliriously happy newlywed. Gary Collins costars as Hayley's seemingly loving American spouse. But the honeymoon has barely started before a series of mysterious, and potential fatal accidents, befall our blushing bride. Can it be that the future host of Hour Magazine plans to eliminate the onetime Pollyanna? Egad! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In this drama, two middle-aged businessmen decide to chuck it all and get back to the land. Unfortunately, they too soon discover that living a "natural" life isn't all it is cracked up to be; they return to the rat race from whence they came. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Once again going undercover, Inspector Erskine poses as an art expert to trap a gang of thieves headed by Porter Brent (Vic Morrow). The villains intend to sell a valuable painting back to the museum whence they stole it, and Erskine sets himself up as go-between. The problem: One of the gang members, Yvonne Shelby (Susan Howard), was arrested by Erskine eight years earlier--and she hasn't forgotten his face. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Quarantined is set in a clinic maintained by a famous family of physicians. Dr. John Dehner and his son Dr. Gary Collins struggle to control a widespread cholera epidemic. One plot complication involves a testy movie star (Sharon Farrell), who refuses treatment when she exhibits the symptoms of cholera. Another problem involves a kidney transplant: Where to find a suitable organ donor in a city full of sick people? Quarantined was the February 24, 1970 entry in ABC's Movie of the Week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Airport had enough plot and enough star power in its cast for three feature films, and it only encompassed about half of the complexity or characters found in Arthur Hailey's best-selling potboiler. Essentially built around 12 harrowing hours at a major Midwestern airport, the film had everything an audience of the period could have wanted -- suspense, romance, drama, and comedy -- all spread across a vast canvas. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the manager of Lincoln Airport, facing a night beset by the worst blizzard in a decade, a wife (Dana Wynter) who announces she wants a divorce, a primary runway blocked by an airliner stuck in a snowdrift, and a governing board ready to fire him. Bakersfeld's cynical, smooth-talking brother-in-law, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), won't let up on his criticism of the management at Lincoln, but he has his own problems as well, mostly in the form of a young stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is pregnant by him and whom he finds he genuinely loves. Add to that the presence of an old lady stowaway (Helen Hayes) and a mentally disturbed passenger (Van Heflin) carrying a bomb, and there's more than enough plot to keep viewers engrossed for two hours plus. Airport became one of the top-grossing movies of its era, racking up seven-digit box-office numbers and spawning an entire film genre -- the disaster movie. With Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Nelson, and Maureen Stapleton filling out the rest of the leading roles, there was something for almost everyone in this film. The movie still has a lot to offer if only as a prime example of Hollywood at its most successfully glitzy, but, if possible, viewers should try and see the letterboxed version of Airport on DVD (released May 2001). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, (more)
- 1969
Baseball star Clint Atkins (Gary Collins) is being plagued with hate mail, extortion notes, death threats and even a mysterious barrage of gas pellets. Curiously, Atkins insists that the police stay out of the matter, and that he will handle the problem all by himself. Naturally, Ironside (Raymond Burr) isn't about to let that happen. Featured in the cast are several authentic major league umpires, as well as guest star Gary Collins' real-life wife Mary Ann Mobley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Although he does not believe that decorated Vietnam veteran David Larkin (Gary Collins) is guilty of murder, Ironside (Raymond Burr) is duty-bound to turn over evidence that secures the man's conviction in court. To save Larkin from the gas chamber, Ironside launches his own investigation, only to be hampered by the interference of Larkin's so-called "buddies"--not to mention the fact that all of the witnesses are being systematically bumped off. This is the final episode of Ironside's first season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Minister Sam (Andy Griffith) and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Lee Meriweather) move to a Kansas town divided by political concerns that stall the town's progress. Will Sinclair (Henry Jones) and Alex Gresham (Edgar Buchanan) have allowed a long-standing family argument to impede the progress of the small rural community. Sam must contend with his mother-in-law (Kay Medford) and his wild brother-in-law Bubba (Jerry Van Dyke) when Bubba sets up a moonshine still in the church basement with the help of his friend Calvin (Parker Fennelly). Art Shields (Gary Collins) is the ambitious young country lawyer who runs for mayor in hopes of bringing peace to the families, and he works for the best interests of the divided community. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Griffith, Jerry Van Dyke, (more)
- 1966
Nasty gossip columnist Danny Shine (John Lasell) has been murdered, and Greg Stanley (Douglas Henderson) is charged with the crime. The only person who can provide an alibi for Stanley is Alex Tanner (Gary Collins)--but Tanner insists that he must remain silent, or else his kidnapped baby will be killed. Agreeing to defend Stanley in court, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) unearths a shocking secret concerning Tanner's neurotic wife Patricia (Anne Whitfield). Cloris Leachman delivers a bravura performance as the murder victim's vengeful spouse...and wait until you hear Gary Collins' curtain speech! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
In this drama, the life of a despondent American woman living in Greece is chronicled on the day of her suicide. The tale begins as she embarks upon her fatal march into the sea. With each step, scenes from her life are presented. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juleen Compton, Gary Collins, (more)
