Cora Sue Collins


Cora Susan Collins was an American 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.

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. 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. She appeared in the American romantic drama Smilin' Through, 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. 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.
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. Collins' reported salary in 1934 was $250 per week.
Collins was initially cast as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but her role was changed to Amy Lawrence because she was considered to be too tall for Tommy Kelly. 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. 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, a wealthy rancher from Nevada. In 1960, robbers stole two mink coats from her home while she was on vacation. Around 1961, she married James Morgan Cox. In a 1996 article, Collins was referred to as Susie Nace and lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Her husband at the time was theatre owner Harry Nace, who died in June 2002 at the age of 87. Having appeared with Greta Garbo in two films, Collins and Garbo remained in contact until Garbo's death in 1990.
Collins had three children with husband James McKay. Collins died from complications of a stroke at her home in Beverly Hills, California, on April 27, 2025, at the age of 98.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1932The Unexpected FatherPudge
1932The Strange Case of Clara DeaneNancy at age 4
1932Smilin' ThroughYoung Kathleen
1932Silver DollarMaryanne Martin, as a Girl
1932They Just Had to Get MarriedRosalie
1933Picture SnatcherJerry's little girl
1933Jennie GerhardtVesta at age 6Uncredited
1933Torch SingerSally at age 5
1933The Prizefighter and the LadyFarmer's daughterUncredited
1933The Sin of Nora MoranNora Moran, as a child
1933Queen ChristinaQueen Christina, as a childUncredited
1933New Deal RhythmLittle girlShort, uncredited
1934Black MoonNancy Lane
1934Treasure IslandYoung girl at the innUncredited
1934The Scarlet LetterPearl
1934The Spectacle MakerThe little princessShort
1934CaravanLatzi, as a childUncredited
1934Evelyn PrenticeDorothy Prentice
1934The World AccusesPat Collins
1934Little MenDaisy
1935Naughty MariettaFelice
1935Public Hero No. 1Little girlUncredited
1935Mad LoveGogol's Lame child patientUncredited
1935Anna KareninaTania
1935The Dark AngelKitty, as a child
1935Two SinnersSally Pym
1935Harmony LaneMarian Foster
1935Mary Burns, FugitiveLittle girlUncredited
1935Magnificent ObsessionRuth
1936The HarvesterNaomi Jameson
1936Devil's SquadronMary
1936Three Married MenSue Cary
1938The Adventures of Tom SawyerAmy Lawrence
1939Stop, Look and LoveDora Haller
1940All This, and Heaven TooLouise de RhamUncredited
1941Blood and SandEncarnacion, as a childUncredited
1942Get Hep to LoveElaine Sterling
1942Johnny DoughboyHerself
1945Youth on TrialCam Chandler
1945Roughly SpeakingElinor Randall, as a girlUncredited
1945Week-End at the WaldorfJane Rand