Cora Sue Collins was born on April 19 1927 in Beckley, West Virginia. Her mother moved to Los Angeles when Cora Sue Collins was just shy of four years old, along with her older sister. In an interview with Danny Miller from 2015 she explained how she was discovered. When she accompanied her mother to enroll her sister in school, a woman asked her mother, "Excuse me, would you like to put your little girl in pictures?" Her mother said that she would. It was then that Cora Sue Collins made her film debut playing Pudge in The Unexpected Father (1932).
Cora Sue Collins would have an incredible career as a child actress in the Thirties, often playing the younger version of some of Hollywood's best known actresses or the daughter of those actress. In the early Thirties she appeared in the films The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932), Smilin' Through (1932), Silver Dollar (1932), They Just Had to Get Married (1932), The Mysterious Rider (1933), Picture Snatcher (1933), Jennie Gerhardt (1933), Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933), Torch Singer (1933), The Prize Fighter's and the Lady (1933), The Sin of Nora Moran (1933), Queen Christina (1933), Caravan (1934), As the Earth Turns (1934), Black Moon (1934), Treasure Island (1934), The Scarlet Letter (1934), Elinor Norton (1934), Evelyn Prentice (1934), The World Accuses (1934), and Little Men (1934). In the late Thirties she appeared in the films Without Children (1935), Naughty Marieta (1935), Public Hero Number 1 (1935), Mad Love (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), The Dark Angel (1935), Harmony Lane (1935), Two Sinners (1935), Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935), Magnificent Obsession (1935), The Harvester (1936),. Devil's Squadron (1936), Three Married Men (1936), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), Stop, Look and Love (1939), and All This and Heaven Too (1940).
In the Forties Cora Sue Collins appeared in the films Blood and Sand (1941), Get Hep to Love (1942), Johnny Doughboy (1942), Youth on Trial (1945), Roughly Speaking (1945), and Week-End at the Waldorf (1945). She appeared on Broadway in Junior Miss. She retired from acting when she was only 18.
Cora Sue Collins would later study architecture and she was active in various charities. She was active in the classic film community, and she attended the TCM Classic Film Festival multiple times. She appeared at last year's festival and had to cancel a planned appearance there this year. Not only have many of my classic film buff friends met Miss Collins, but some were also friend with her. In some ways, her death seems as much like the death of a friend's beloved aunt whom I had never met, but about whom I had heard many stories. Cora Sue Collins was sweet and kind, and always eager to tell stories about the Golden Age of Hollywood.
While Cora Sue Collins is not nearly as famous today as Shirley Temple is, in the Thirties she was a serous rival to the child megastar. And there was no doubt that Cora Sue Collins was talented. When she made her film debut at age 4 in The Unexpected Father (1932), she received praise from critics. While many child stars were stuck in one particular sort of role, she could play a wide array of roles. She often played the younger version of famous actresses in various films. She played the younger Christina to Greta Garbo's older Christina in Queen Christina (1933). for which Miss Garbo chose her herself. She and Greta Garbo would remain friends until Greta Garbo's death in 1990. She also played the younger versions of Norma Shearer in Smilin' Through (1932), Frances Dee in Keep Them Rolling (1934), Dorothy Lee in Without Children (1935), and Lynn Bari in Blood and Sand (1941).
Cora Sue Collins didn't just play the younger versions of characters played by well known actresses, but other roles as well. She was Becky Thatcher's rival Amy in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (she was supposed to play Amy, but grew taller than star Tom Kelly). She was Anna's daughter Tania in Anna Karenina. In Get Hep to Love she played the manipulative, none-too-nice Elaine. In Youth on Trial She played Carn Chandler, the delinquent daughter of a juvenile court judge. At a young age she held her own with such heavyweights as Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Irene Dunne, Greta Garbo,Myrna Loy, Merle Oberon, and William Powell. She may not be among the most famous actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, but she was most certainly a star.
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One little known fact about Cora Sue Collins: she was once engaged to Jack Kelly of TV's "Maverick," from fall of 1955 to spring of 1956. They had full intentions of marriage but for unknown reasons, the engagement was suddenly called off around May of 1956. They were, however, hot and heavy for about eight months, being photographed together, making plans to build a home together, and with Cora flying to Mexico to be with Jack while he filmed a movie there.
Linda J. Alexander, author of "A Maverick Life: The Jack Kelly Story," Jack Kelly's biographer
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