Collin Wilcox Movies
Cincinnati native Collin Wilcox honed her performing skills with the Chicago improve troupe The Compass Players in the 1950s before moving eastward to cultivate a successful career on Broadway. She appeared in productions like The Day Money Stopped and Look, We've Come Through and also worked in the realm of movies, most notably playing Mayella Violet Ewell in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. She would continue to act throughout the coming decades, appearing in Catch-22, Jaws 2, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and many other projects. Wilcox passed away in 2009 at the age of 74. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide- 1979
In this drama, a well-known actress goes home to attend her father's funeral and finds herself haunted by unhappy childhood memories. It is these dark reminiscences that force her to take an honest look at herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariette Hartley, Collin Wilcox, (more)
- 1977
This film, aired on television as 24 Hours of the Rebel, delves into the hero-worship aura that surrounded James Dean following his tragic death. This stars The Waltons' Richard Thomas (getting a break from his usual "goody-goody" roles), who, as character "Jimmy J," is stunned by Dean's death and gathers his friends in a drinking foray where the stupor comes more from their turbulent emotions than from the suds. Quite respected for its real-life glimpses, this film is the debut of Dennis Quaid. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Thomas, Susan Tyrrell, (more)
- 1977
Doc Baker (Kevin Hagen) wonders if he is truly cut out for his job after losing one of his patients, the husband of a pregnant woman (Collin Wilcox). Dolefully, Baker decides to relinquish his practice to the younger and seemingly more efficient Dr. Logan (Burr deBenning). But Doc's defection proves temporary when he is appalled by Logan's callous indifference toward the pregnant widow -- who has not only lost her husband, but two previous babies as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, (more)
- 1977
Melissa Astin (Barbara Babcock), the wife of Quincy's supervisor Dr. Robert Astin (John S. Ragin), stops her car to pick up a runaway boy named Joey (Shane Sinutko) --and shortly afterward is involved in a traffic accident. When Quincy (Jack Klugman) pays a visit to Melissa and Joey in the hospital, he checks the boy's injuries, only to conclude that several of the child's bruises are very old. Doing some detective work on his own, Quincy tries to prove that Joey is the product of a very abusive home...but his concern doesn't guarantee that the boy will be out of danger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord stars in this odd little thriller directed by Gunnar Hellstrom. Lord plays a Hungarian man named Lipa who meets the beautiful Mickey (Susan Strasberg) while wandering the highways of Arizona. Mickey runs a gas station in the desert with her mother (T.C. Jones) and two sisters and invites Lipa to stay with them. He does, not knowing that the entire family is stark-raving mad. The usual psychological games ensue, with Lipa being attacked by a rattlesnake, seduced by the psychotic sisters, and run over with a car before figuring out the predictable truth -- that "Mom" is really a man. Gorgeous photography by Vilmos Zsigmond and some amusingly sadistic set-pieces accent this enjoyably trashy thriller. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, Susan Strasberg, (more)
- 1967
Erkine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and Rhodes (Stephen Elliott) give chase when Hanna Crandall, a key government witness against a Red spy ring, escapes FBI surveillance and boards a train bound for Canada. A pair of Communist assassins are also trailing Hanna, and are on the verge of silencing her for keeps when they are interrupted by Richard Lenk (James Callahan), a fellow passenger who takes a liking to Hanna, unaware that she is in dire peril--at least at first. Virginia Christine, best known to TV addicts as "Mrs. Olsen" in a series of popular coffee commercials, delivers a surprising characterization in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Now travelling under the name "Pete Allen", Kimble befriends Willie Turner (Denny Miller), a mentally challenged youth who is also on the lam from the law. To protect Willie, Kimble gets the boy a job as a carnival roustabout, but his generosity may result in his own arrest. Ultimately, the only person who can save both Kimble and Willie is Willie's sister Mary (Collin Wilcox)--if she chooses to do so. Featured in the cast are a young, pre-stardom Dabney Coleman and future Hill Street Blues regular Michael Conrad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Coleen Dewhurst guest stars as Amy Doucette, a deranged woman who is hired sight unseen as a babysitter by a young couple (Davey Davison, Geoffrey Horne). Kidnapping the baby, Amy enlists the aid of her neurotic sister Stella (Collin Wilcox) in her efforts to elude the authorities. Armed with the knowledge that Amy is morbidly obsessed with the date "April 2", Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) literally races against time to save the life of the abducted child. (Trivia note: costars Collin Wilcox and Geoffrey Horne were husband and wife at the time). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Managing to elude another police dragnet, Kimble (David Janssen) ends up being arrested in the Montana town of Drover City. Actually, it's supposed to be all in fun: Drover City is staging its annual carnival-rodeo, and the locals are being offered prizes to "arrest" anyone who is not dressed in western garb. But it's hardly a laughing matter when Kimble's relentless pursuer Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse) shows up in town to take the hapless fugitive into custody for real. With no other option, Kimble hopes to slip through Gerard's fingers by exploiting the Lieutenant's dislike of the town's lazy, unethical sheriff Charlie Judd (Earl Holliman)--and the fragile relationship between Judd and his girlfriend Laura (Collin Wilcox). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
W.W. Jacobs' Grand Guignol classic The Monkey's Paw had previously been filmed as a theatrical feature in 1933 when this updated version was presented on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. While on vacation in the Bahamas, Paul and Anne White (Leif Erickson, Jane Wyatt) attend a party where the guests are cruelly mocking a wizened gypsy woman (Zolya Talma). Defiantly, the old crone brandishes a tiny, severed monkey's paw, which Paul immediately identifies as a good-luck charm. Indeed, when the gypsy gives the monkey's paw to Mr. White, she informs him that the shriveled artifact will grant him three wishes -- but the third wish will be for death. A young Lee Majors appears as the Whites' son, Howard, whose grisly demise looms large over the story's heart-pounding climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leif Erickson, Jane Wyatt, (more)
- 1964
This Twilight Zone episode was purportedly adapted by Charles Beaumont from his own short story "The Beautiful People," though it was actually scripted by an uncredited John Tomerlin. The story takes place in a futuristic society where conformity is not only encouraged, it is enforced. Plain-looking but fiercely individualistic Marilyn Cuberle (Collin Wilcox) balks at living in a world where everyone looks and thinks alike, but she may not have any choice in the matter. The episode's principal attraction rests in the multiple characterizations essayed by Suzy Parker, Richard Long, and Pam Austin. "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" first aired January 24, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzy Parker
- 1964
Pat Buttram (he was Mr. Haney on Green Acres) brings a macabre twist to his standard country-bumpkin characterization in this bone-chilling episode. Visiting a traveling carnival, farmer Charlie Hill (Buttram) is fascinated by one of the exhibits: a huge jar, filled with water and mysterious floating objects. Convinced that the jar possesses magical qualities, Charlie purchases the object and brings it home, putting it on display for his friends and neighbors -- who are equally fascinated, even mesmerized, by the jar's eerie "properties." All of this brouhaha annoys Charlie's promiscuous young wife, Thedy Sue (Collin Wilcox), who plans to expose the jar as a fake and humiliate Charlie in public just before running off with her current boyfriend. James Bridges earned an Emmy nomination for his adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story The Jar, which also boasts an appropriately eerie minimalist musical score by frequent Alfred Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat Buttram, Collin Wilcox, (more)
- 1962
Three weeks prior to the repeal of Prohibition, Woody O'Mara (Mort Mills) prepares to eliminate brewery operator Franz Koenig (played by Hogan's Heroes' future "Sgt. Schultz" John Banner) so that he and Charlie Zenko (Luther Adler) can take over all illegal liquor activities on the North Side before it's too late. Zenko shows his "gratitude" by planting a bomb in O'Mara's car and assuming command of the entire operation himself. Ironically, Zenko himself ends up being betrayed by his own son Larry (Robert Loggia)--leaving Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) to solemnly pick up the pieces. Watch for Leonard Nimoy as a squirrelly trigger man named Packy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Drug kingpin Louie Madikoff (Harold J. Stone) ends up half a million dollars in the red when several of his dope shipments are intercepted by Elliot Ness (Robert Stack). In desperation, Louie warns Ness that if any more of his deliveries are stopped, he'll blow up a school full of children--and brings in professional "torch" Artie Krebs (Warren Oates) in case he has to carry out his threat. Meanwhile, a Romeo-and-Juliet romance between Madikoff's son Danny (Darryl Hickman) and Francey Pavanos (Collin Wilcox), the daughter of Louie's hated rival Mike Pavanos (Booth Colman), may well prove fatal for all concerned. With this episode, Robert Carricart returns to the role of Lucky Luciano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film in 1962 by Horton Foote and the producer/director team of Robert Mulligan and Alan J. Pakula. Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, magnificently embodied by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are seen through the eyes of Finch's six-year-old daughter Scout (Mary Badham). While Robinson's trial gives the film its momentum, there are plenty of anecdotal occurrences before and after the court date: Scout's ever-strengthening bond with older brother Jem (Philip Alford), her friendship with precocious young Dill Harris (a character based on Lee's childhood chum Truman Capote and played by John Megna), her father's no-nonsense reactions to such life-and-death crises as a rampaging mad dog, and especially Scout's reactions to, and relationship with, Boo Radley (Robert Duvall in his movie debut), the reclusive "village idiot" who turns out to be her salvation when she is attacked by a venomous bigot. To Kill a Mockingbird won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, (more)
- 1959
While driving through the desert, Professor John Piltkin (MacDonald Carey) stops his car to care for a seriously injured coyote. Not long afterward, the coyote vanishes -- whereupon Piltkin is confronted by a wild-eyed young girl named Julie (Collin Wilcox). Whether or not Julie and the coyote are one and the same turns out to be a moot point, as the story segues into a morality play involving treachery, theft, and sweet revenge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
