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Actress Collin Wilcox used variations of her name throughout her career, including Collin Wilcox-Horne and Collin Wilcox Paxton. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in Highlands, North Carolina, her passion for theater was inspired by her parents, Jack H. and Virginia Wilcox, founders of the Highlands Community Theatre (now Highlands Playhouse) in 1939. She began acting there as a child, appearing in productions such as "Our Town," and later returned periodically to perform at the theater in gratitude.
She attended high school in Knoxville, Tennessee, and became the resident ingénue at the regional Carousel Theatre. Wilcox studied drama at the University of Tennessee and pursued further training at Chicago’s Goodman School of Drama, as well as improvisation at The Compass, a precursor to the Second City troupe, directed by Paul Sills. There, she worked alongside emerging talents like Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Barbara Harris, Severn Darden, and Shelley Berman. In 1957, she moved to New York and joined Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio, where she trained for eight years.
Wilcox made her Broadway debut in 1958 with "The Day the Money Stopped," starring Richard Basehart and Mildred Natwick, which earned her the Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress. She gradually gained recognition for her distinctive and edgy performances, working with Broadway luminaries such as Tallulah Bankhead in "Crazy October," Geraldine Page in "Strange Interlude," and Ruth Gordon in "La Bonne Soup." She excelled in neurotic Southern plays, including Tennessee Williams’ off-Broadway productions of "Camino Real" and "Suddenly, Last Summer." In Los Angeles, she appeared in "The Sea Gull" directed by John Houseman, "Period of Adjustment" alongside William Windom, and "Getting Out" with Susan Clark. Tennessee Williams personally chose Wilcox to reprise her leading role as Isabel in "Period of Adjustment" when it moved to London.
Her film debut featured a powerful, award-worthy performance as Mayella Ewell, a troubled Southern white teenager who falsely accuses a black man, portrayed by Brock Peters, of rape under her father's racist pressure in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). The courtroom cross-examination scenes with Gregory Peck remain iconic. This role defined her career. Prior to this, director Robert Mulligan cast her in her first television role as Frankie in a strong adaptation of The Member of the Wedding (1958). Despite this auspicious beginning, her subsequent film career was somewhat inconsistent, including notable roles in The Baby Maker (1970), widely regarded as her best post-Mockingbird film, alongside Barbara Hershey and Sam Groom; as well as appearances in 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).
Wilcox also appeared in numerous quality television productions, such as the mini-series The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), Foxfire (1987), and Wildflower (1991), as well as classic series including Gunsmoke (1955), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Fugitive (1963), and The Waltons (1972). However, the live stage remained her true passion. In the late 1970s, she returned to her hometown, married her third husband Scott Paxton, and founded the multi-arts center The Highlands Studio for the Arts in 1981. She served as artistic director, resident playwright, and improv instructor for nine years. Alongside her husband, who served as president of the board, she established The Instant Theatre Company (ITC), a troupe dedicated to local theater, which operated for nearly a decade before reviving in 2003 with a performance of "Love Letters" featuring Wilcox and Rex Reed.
Married three times, Wilcox had two children, Kimberley and William, with British actor Geoffrey Horne, and one child, Michael, with Scott Paxton. She passed away from brain cancer at her home in Highlands, North Carolina, on October 14, 2009, at the age of 74.
