{{Short description|American child actress (1927–2025)|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Cora Sue Collins | image = Cora-Sue-Collins-1931.jpg | image_size = | caption = Collins in 1931 | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|4|19}} | birth_place = Beckley, West Virginia, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|4|27|1927|4|19}} | death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S. | occupation = Child actress | years_active = 1932–1945 | known_for = ''The Scarlet Letter''<br>''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Ivan Stauffer|1943|1944|end=div}} * {{marriage|<!--Ivan Stauffer-->|1946|1947|end=div}} * {{marriage|James McKay<br>|1949|1955|end=div}} * {{marriage|James Morgan Cox|1960|1969|end=div}} * {{marriage|Harry Nace|1969|2002|end=died}} }} | children = 3 }}
'''Cora Susan Collins''' (April 19, 1927 – April 27, 2025) was an American former child actress who appeared in films during the Golden Years of Hollywood. Although she did not make the transition to a film career in adulthood, she appeared in 47 films in total.<ref name="Cinephiled15" />
==Early life and career== Cora Susan Collins was born on April 19, 1927, in Beckley, West Virginia. She later moved to Los Angeles, California, along with her mother and older sister.<ref name="Cinephiled15">{{cite web | url=http://www.cinephiled.com/child-star-cora-sue-collins-talks-garbo-garland-day-jean-harlow-came-birthday-party/ | title=Child Star Cora Sue Collins Talks Garbo, Garland, and the Day Jean Harlow Came to Her Birthday Party| publisher=Cinephiled.com| date=April 19, 2015 | access-date=August 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517042545/http://www.cinephiled.com/child-star-cora-sue-collins-talks-garbo-garland-day-jean-harlow-came-birthday-party/|archive-date=May 17, 2021}}</ref> Collins made her acting debut in ''The Unexpected Father'' in 1932 at the age of five. She starred opposite Slim Summerville and ZaSu Pitts, playing Summerville's adoptive daughter.<ref name="CoraS">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19350812&id=oY9RAAAAIBAJ&pg=4000,5021338|title=Tiny actress called genius|publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=August 12, 1935|access-date=April 10, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Collins">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19320331&id=LulNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7453,5983939|title=She cries her way into movies|publisher=The Free Lance-Star|date=March 31, 1932|access-date=April 10, 2014}}</ref> She appeared in the American romantic drama ''Smilin' Through'' (1932), starred Norma Shearer, Fredric March, and Leslie Howard. It was a remake of a silent film of the same name made a decade earlier, and Collins had a minor role as Shearer's character Kathleen Wayne as a young girl. ''Smilin' Through'' was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1932, but did not win. In total, Collins appeared in five motion pictures in 1932, mainly as a supporting cast member. The films were made by different studios, such as MGM, Paramount, and Universal.
In 1933, Collins' career continued to consist mostly of playing either the leading lady's daughter, or the leading lady herself in a flashback scene. For instance in ''Torch Singer'', she played Claudette Colbert's daughter Sally Trent, age five. (Because both mother and daughter had the same name in the film, she is often mistakenly identified as playing Colbert as a child, but Colbert’s character never appears as a child in the film.) Another example is when she was cast as Queen Christina as a child in the MGM biographical film of the same name starring Greta Garbo. ''Queen Christina'' was well-received by film critics at the time. She had a small part as the daughter of a farmer in ''The Prizefighter and the Lady'', for which its main writer Frances Marion was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story.<ref name="Oscars1934">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1934|title=The 6th Academy Awards (1934) Nominees and Winners|accessdate=May 21, 2019|work=oscars.org}}</ref>
In 1934, Collins had a supporting role in the horror film ''Black Moon''. She featured in Colleen Moore's last film, ''The Scarlet Letter''. She was cast as William Powell and Myrna Loy's characters' daughter Dorothy in ''Evelyn Prentice'', which despite its leads was not part of ''The Thin Man'' franchise. In ''The World Accuses'' she had a rare billing in the movie poster. Produced by the small studio Chesterfield Pictures, the film also features fellow child actor Dickie Moore, whom she would appear with later that year in ''Little Men''. In the 1980s, Moore interviewed her among many other child actors for his book ''Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star: But Don't Have Sex Or Take the Car''. She played a princess in John Farrow's 21-minute MGM short ''The Spectacle Maker''. It was Farrow's directorial debut and was filmed in full three-strip Technicolor.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|422104502}} |last1=King |first1=Susan |title=Movies; ON DVD; A 'Treasure Island' that's well worth digging up |work=Los Angeles Times |date=15 October 2006 |page=E.10 }}</ref> Collins' reported salary in 1934 was $250 per week ({{Inflation|US|250|1934|fmt=eq}}).<ref name="Minneapolis34">{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/187355802|title=Cora Sue Collins 7, gets £250 a week deal|publisher=The Minneapolis Star|date=November 28, 1934|access-date=August 24, 2019|pages=10}}</ref>
Collins was initially cast as Becky Thatcher in ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1938), but her role was changed to Amy Lawrence because she was considered to be too tall for Tommy Kelly.<ref name="Cinephiled15"/> She said that writer Harry Ruskin, 33 years her senior, tried to force her to have sex with him in exchange for a good role at age 15. She refused and told Louis B. Mayer about what had happened, who was nonchalant and dismissive about it.<ref name="Image20">{{cite web|url=https://www.image.ie/self/cora-sue-collins-my-life-162334|title=Cora Sue Collins|publisher=Image|date=September 19, 2020|access-date=October 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414070005/https://www.image.ie/self/cora-sue-collins-my-life-162334 |archive-date=April 14, 2021}}</ref> A rare leading role for Collins was in the 1945 Columbia Pictures drama ''Youth on Trial'', in which she played the juvenile delinquent daughter of a court judge. Her last movie appearance was in 1945, after which she retired from show business at the age of 18.
==Personal life and death== Around 1944, Collins married Ivan Stauffer, operator of the Clover Club in Hollywood,<ref name="THR/1236202858" /> later, a rancher in Nevada.<ref name="FirstMarriage">{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/nevada/reno/nevada-state-journal/1948/03-09/page-7?tag=cora+sue+collins&rtserp=tags/?pep=cora-sue-collins&ndt=by&py=1940&pey=1949|title=Winchell on Broadway|publisher=Nevada State Journal|date=March 9, 1948|access-date=June 27, 2016|pages=7}}</ref><ref name="Sue Collins">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/cora-sue-collins-p14219|title=Cora Sue Collins|publisher=Allmovie|access-date=November 15, 2013}}</ref> In 1960, robbers stole two mink coats from her home while she was on vacation.<ref name="CoraSC">{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/indiana/valparaiso/valparaiso-vidette-messenger/1960/09-17/page-4?tag=cora+sue+collins&rtserp=tags/?pep=cora-sue-collins&ndt=by&py=1960&pey=1969|title=Behind the Scenes in Hollywood|publisher=Valparaiso Vidette Messenger|date=September 17, 1960|access-date=June 27, 2016 | pages=4}}</ref>
Around 1961, she married James Morgan Cox.<ref name="Marriage">{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/amarillo/amarillo-daily-news/1964/03-06/page-49?tag=cora+sue+collins&rtserp=tags/?pep=cora-sue-collins&ndt=by&py=1960&pey=1969|title=Hollywood Mailbag|publisher=Amarillo Daily News|date=March 6, 1964|access-date=June 27, 2016|author=Connolly, Mike | pages=49}}</ref>
Collins's marriages to Ivan Stauffer and Jim Cox ended in divorce.<ref name="nytimes/collins-dead">{{cite news |last1=Sandomir |first1=Richard |title=Cora Sue Collins, a Busy Child Actress in the 1930s, Dies at 98 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/movies/cora-sue-collins-dead.html |access-date=17 April 2026 |work=The New York Times |date=4 May 2025}}</ref>
Collins had three children with husband James McKay, "owner of the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, before he died of pneumonia while on a hunting trip in 1962".<ref name="THR/1236202858" /><!-- "James McKay" "Cora Sue Collins" -->
{{anchor|Harry Nace}} In a 1996 article, Collins was referred to as Susie Nace and lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Her husband at the time was theatre owner<ref name="cinematreasures/970">{{cite web |title=Movie Theaters Operated by Harry L. Nace Theatres |url=https://cinematreasures.org/chains/970/previous?status=all |website=Cinema Treasures |access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref><ref name="cinematreasures/34485">{{cite web |title=Miracle Mile Drive-In in Tucson, AZ |url=https://www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/34485 |website=Cinema Treasures |access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref><ref name="cinematreasures/9766">{{cite web |title=Palms Theater in Phoenix, AZ |url=https://www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/9766 |website=Cinema Treasures |access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref><ref name="cinematreasures/5893">{{cite web |title=Rialto Theatre in Tucson, AZ |url=https://www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/5893 |website=Cinema Treasures}}</ref><ref name="cinematreasures/13951">{{cite web |title=State Theater in Tucson, AZ |url=https://www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/13951 |website=Cinema Treasures |access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref> Harry Leroy Nace<ref name="phoenixmag/nice-guy">{{cite web |title=Nice Guys Finish Last |url=https://www.phoenixmag.com/2016/02/01/nice-guys-finish-last/ |website=PHOENIX magazine |access-date=17 April 2026 |date=1 February 2016}}</ref> (Harry L. Nace Theatres began after 1910 when the Harry L. Nace, Sr. moved to Phoenix and formed a partnership with Joseph Elmer Rickards.<ref name="getyourphx/jo-e-rickards">{{cite web |title=jo-e-rickards |url=https://getyourphx.com/jo-e-rickards/ |website=getyourphx |access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref><ref name="azcentral/9136371002">{{cite news |last1=Reiner |first1=Donna |title=From the circus to the Orpheum: The colorful career of Joseph Elmer Rickards |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix-history/2022/01/13/phoenix-history-colorful-career-joseph-elmer-rickards/9136371002/ |access-date=17 April 2026 |work=The Arizona Republic}}</ref><ref name="phoenixmag/nice-guy"/><ref name="cinematreasures/48493">{{cite web |title=Maryvale Dollar Cinema in Phoenix, AZ |url=https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/48493 |website=Cinema Treasures |access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref> In 1915 Nace joined with Rickards founding Rickards-Nace Amusement Enterprises. In 1929 the Rickards-Nace 26 theatres were sold to Publix Theatres, with Nace remaining as general manager.<ref name="cinematreasures/47897">{{cite web |title=Lamara Theatre in Phoenix, AZ |url=https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/47897 |website=Cinema Treasures |access-date=17 April 2026}}</ref> ''Paramount Nace Theatres''<!-- "Paramount Nace Theatres" site:cinematreasures.org -->),<ref name="Cora96">{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/maryland/frederick/news/1996/09-09/page-7?tag=cora+sue+collins&rtserp=tags/?pep=cora-sue-collins&ndt=by&py=1990&pey=1999|title=Millionaires, movie stars and heads of states tote Vuitton|publisher=The Frederick-News Post|date=September 9, 1996|access-date=June 27, 2016|pages=7}}</ref> who died in June 2002 at the age of 87,<ref name="HusbandObit">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=894&dat=20020609&id=VyALAAAAIBAJ&pg=4447,994753&hl=sv|title=Phoenix theater pioneer dies|publisher=The Daily Courier|date=June 9, 2002 |access-date=June 27, 2016|pages=5A}}</ref> of an apparent suicide.<ref name="phoenixmag/nice-guy"/><ref name="fototphx/Harry">{{cite web |title=All About Harry |url=https://www.fototphx.org/single-post/2015/07/01/All-About-Harry |website=fototphx |access-date=17 April 2026 |quote=Ten months later, Rickards and Nace sold their Phoenix theaters to Paramount Pictures. Their partnership ended; Rickards re-located to Hollywood (he died in 1943), while Harry remained managing the Orpheum, as well as keeping control of the partnership's other theaters in Arizona. |date=2 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="newspapers/11210450">{{cite news |title=Harry Nace - obit |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-republic-harry-nace-brief-biog/11210450/ |access-date=17 April 2026 |work=Arizona Republic |date=1 July 1953 |location=Phoenix, Arizona |page=2}}</ref><ref name="casemine/HARKINS-NACE">{{cite web |title=HARKINS AMUSEMENT ENTERPRISES v. HARRY NACE CO, Nos. 87-2388, 87-15164. {{!}} 9th Cir., Judgment, Law |url=https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/59148a34add7b0493450e887 |website=casemine.com |language=en}}</ref>
Having appeared with Greta Garbo in two films, Collins and Garbo remained in contact until Garbo's death in 1990.<ref name="Cinephiled15"/>
Collins died from complications of a stroke at her home in Beverly Hills, California, on April 27, 2025, at the age of 98.<ref name="THR/1236202858" >{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cora-sue-collins-dead-child-actress-mgm-1236202858/|title=Cora Sue Collins, Celebrated Child Actress at MGM in the 1930s, Dies at 98|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|date=April 28, 2025|accessdate=April 28, 2025}}</ref>
==Filmography== [[File:Scarlet Letter lobby card.jpg|thumb|Cora Sue Collins as Pearl (in green) in ''The Scarlet Letter'' (1934)]] {| class="wikitable" |- !style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year !style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title !style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role !style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan=5|1932 |''The Unexpected Father'' |Pudge | |- |''The Strange Case of Clara Deane'' |Nancy at age 4 | |- |''Smilin' Through'' |Young Kathleen | |- |''Silver Dollar'' |Maryanne Martin, as a Girl | |- |''They Just Had to Get Married'' |Rosalie | |- |rowspan=7|1933 |''Picture Snatcher'' |Jerry's little girl | |- |''Jennie Gerhardt'' |Vesta at age 6 |Uncredited |- |''Torch Singer'' |Sally at age 5 | |- |''The Prizefighter and the Lady'' |Farmer's daughter |Uncredited |- |''The Sin of Nora Moran'' |Nora Moran, as a child | |- |''Queen Christina'' |Queen Christina, as a child |Uncredited |- |''New Deal Rhythm'' |Little girl |Short, uncredited |- |rowspan=8|1934 |''Black Moon'' |Nancy Lane | |- |''Treasure Island'' |Young girl at the inn |Uncredited |- |''The Scarlet Letter'' |Pearl | |- |''The Spectacle Maker'' |The little princess |Short |- |''Caravan'' |Latzi, as a child |Uncredited |- |''Evelyn Prentice'' |Dorothy Prentice | |- |''The World Accuses'' |Pat Collins | |- |''Little Men'' |Daisy | |- |rowspan=9|1935 |''Naughty Marietta'' |Felice | |- |''Public Hero No. 1'' |Little girl |Uncredited |- |''Mad Love'' |Gogol's Lame child patient |Uncredited |- |''Anna Karenina'' |Tania | |- |''The Dark Angel'' |Kitty, as a child | |- |''Two Sinners'' |Sally Pym | |- |''Harmony Lane'' |Marian Foster | |- |''Mary Burns, Fugitive'' |Little girl |Uncredited |- |''Magnificent Obsession'' |Ruth | |- |rowspan=3|1936 |''The Harvester'' |Naomi Jameson | |- |''Devil's Squadron'' |Mary | |- |''Three Married Men'' |Sue Cary | |- |1938 |''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' |Amy Lawrence | |- |1939 |''Stop, Look and Love'' |Dora Haller | |- |1940 |''All This, and Heaven Too'' |Louise de Rham |Uncredited |- |1941 |''Blood and Sand'' |Encarnacion, as a child |Uncredited |- |rowspan=2|1942 |''Get Hep to Love'' |Elaine Sterling | |- |''Johnny Doughboy'' |Herself | |- |rowspan=3|1945 |''Youth on Trial'' |Cam Chandler | |- |''Roughly Speaking'' |Elinor Randall, as a girl |Uncredited |- |''Week-End at the Waldorf'' |Jane Rand | |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Dye, David (1988). ''Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., p. 35. * Best, Marc (1971). ''Those Endearing Young Charms: Child Performers of the Screen''. South Brunswick and New York: Barnes & Co., p. 35-39. * Willson, Dixie (1935). ''Little Hollywood Stars''. Akron, OH, and New York: Saalfield Pub. Co.
==External links== {{Commons category|Cora Sue Collins}} * {{IMDb name|0172237}} * {{rotten-tomatoes-person|cora-sue-collins}} * {{TCMDb person|37131}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Cora Sue}} Category:1927 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American child actresses Category:Actors from Raleigh County, West Virginia Category:People from Beckley, West Virginia Category:Actresses from West Virginia Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American film actresses Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Category:Universal Pictures contract players Category:Paramount Pictures contract players Category:Warner Bros. contract players