Collin Wilcox | |
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Wilcox in 1958
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Born |
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
February 4, 1935
Died | October 14, 2009 Highlands, North Carolina, U.S. |
(aged 74)
Cause of death | Brain cancer |
Occupation | Film, stage, and television actress |
Years active | 1953–2003 |
Spouse(s) | Walter Beakel (divorced) Geoffrey Horne (divorced) Scott Paxton (1979–2009; her death) |
Children | 3 |
Collin 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 false claim of being raped sparks the trial at the center of the film.
She 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, Jack H. and Virginia Wilcox, who founded the Highlands Community Theatre (now known as the Highlands Playhouse) in 1939. She made her professional debut in Chicago as part of the improvisational group, The Compass Players, 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 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.