Cora Sue Collins obit

Cora Sue Collins, Celebrated Child Actress at MGM in the 1930s, Dies at 98

She spent time alone with Greta Garbo, played William Powell and Myrna Loy's daughter and had Lana Turner for a babysitter before leaving acting at age 18. 

She was not on the list.

Cora Sue Collins, the charming child actress of the 1930s and ’40s who worked alongside such legends as Greta Garbo, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Irene Dunne and Merle Oberon during her brief but sensational career, has died. She was 98.

Collins died Sunday at her home in Beverly Hills of complications from a stroke, her daughter, Susie Krieser, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Collins played younger versions of Colbert in Torch Singer (1933), Frances Dee in The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932) and Keep ‘Em Rolling (1934), Loretta Young in Caravan (1934), Oberon in The Dark Angel (1935) and Lynn Bari in Blood and Sand (1941).

“I must have the most common face in the world,” she said in a 2019 interview. “I played either the most famous actresses of the ’30s as a child or their child. They made me up to look like everybody.”

The MGM contract player also was William Powell and Myrna Loy’s daughter in Evelyn Prentice (1934); portrayed Amy Lawrence in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938); appeared in the original Magnificent Obsession (1935), starring Dunne and her personal crush, Robert Taylor; and was one of Davis’ students at an American girls school in All This, and Heaven Too (1940).

Garbo personally selected Collins to play her younger self in Queen Christina (1933), and the two appeared together again in Anna Karenina (1935). The reclusive star often invited Collins into her lavish suite on the MGM lot for afternoon tea — Collins drank milk — and they remained friends until Garbo’s death in 1990.

Collins also called Pat O’Brien “Uncle Pat,” went roller skating with Cesar Romero and was babysat by Lana Turner. After making about four dozen movies from 1932 through 1945, she called it a career.

Collins was born on April 19, 1927, in Beckley, West Virginia. Her mom brought her and her older sister to Los Angeles just before Collins turned 4.

“On the third day we were here, I went with my mother to enroll my older sister in school,” she told Danny Miller in a wonderful 2015 interview. “We were walking up to the entrance of the school, my sister and I each holding one of my mother’s hands, when this huge car came screeching up.

“A woman jumped out of the car and said, ‘Excuse me, would you like to put your little girl in pictures?’ Of course my mother said, ‘Yes!’ The woman said, ‘Get in the car with me, there’s a big casting going on right now at Universal.'”

They made it on their own to the studio, where Collins was quickly tapped to play Pudge in the 1932 comedy The Unexpected Father, starring ZaSu Pitts and Slim Summerville. “Wait till you see Cora Sue,” wrote one reviewer of her performance. “Just four, she walks away with everything.”

(Collins said producers were all set to hire Judy Garland but reworked the part for a younger actress after seeing her).

On the set of The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932), she recalled, “I was supposed to cry in this one scene we were about to shoot. My mother was on set with me, of course, I was still very young, and all of a sudden, these two great big men came up behind her and literally dragged her off the set. She had no idea what was happening.

“I looked at the director and he said, ‘Well, aren’t you going to cry?’ And I said, ‘If you want me to cry, why don’t you just tell me to and give me a minute to think of something sad.’ That’s a true story.”

The next year, Collins portrayed Sylvia Sidney’s daughter in Jennie Gerhardt and was the main attraction at the premiere of Queen Christina at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where she was accompanied by MGM chief Louis B. Mayer after arriving in a miniature coach pulled by Shetland ponies. (Garbo refused to do any publicity for her films.)

Collins signed a contract with MGM in 1934 for $250 a week — about $5,900 in today’s dollars — and appeared in 10 features that year, including Black Moon with Fay Wray, The Scarlet Letter with Colleen Moore, The World Accuses with Dickie Moore and Treasure Island with Jackie Cooper.

Signifying her value to the studio, she appeared as a harp-playing princess in The Spectacle Maker (1934), directed by John Farrow as the first Technicolor short ever made in the U.S.

In 1935, when she made another 11 pictures, Mayer threw her and veteran actress May Robson a birthday party — both were born on April 19 — and just about everyone on the MGM lot came by, from Joan Crawford and Jean Harlow to youngsters Cooper, Mickey Rooney and Freddie Bartholomew.

Collins was initially cast as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer but had a growth spurt as MGM spent months searching for an actor to play Tom. She wound up taller than Tommy Kelly so was given the part of Becky’s rival, Amy.

In 1942, Collins got to portray a teenager — and a nasty one at that — in Get Hep to Love, starring Donald O’Connor and Gloria Jean, and she also starred on Broadway in Junior Miss.

She played the juvenile delinquent daughter of a court judge in Youth on Trial (1945) and appeared in Week-End at the Waldorf (1945), then retired from acting at age 18. “I wanted to enjoy the luxury of anonymity,” she said.

After being married to Ivan Stauffer, operator of the Clover Club in Hollywood, from 1943 until their 1947 divorce, 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.

She then was married for more than 33 years to Phoenix movie theater owner Harry Nace until his 2002 death.

In addition to her daughter, survivors include her son, Trey, and her grandchildren, James, Kevin and Keith.

Talking about her heyday in Hollywood, Collins said: “I had a great time and met so many wonderful people but, to be honest, as far as I’m concerned, children should be cogs in a wheel, they should not be at the center.

“When an entire family revolves around a small child, it puts that child in a very odd position and gives her responsibilities that she really should not have at that age. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed being an anonymous housewife later on in my life!”

Actress

Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)

Week-End at the Waldorf

6.6

Jane Rand

1945

 

Jack Carson and Rosalind Russell in Roughly Speaking (1945)

Roughly Speaking

7.0

Elinor Randall as a Girl (uncredited)

1945

 

Cora Sue Collins and David Reed in Youth on Trial (1945)

Youth on Trial

5.6

Cam Chandler

1945

 

Jack Boyle and Jane Withers in Johnny Doughboy (1942)

Johnny Doughboy

5.1

Cora Sue Collins

1942

 

Jane Frazee, Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor, Robert Paige, and Peggy Ryan in Get Hep to Love (1942)

Get Hep to Love

7.0

Elaine Sterling

1942

 

Rita Hayworth and Tyrone Power in Blood and Sand (1941)

Blood and Sand

6.7

Encarnacion (as a child)

1941

 

Bette Davis and Charles Boyer in All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

All This, and Heaven Too

7.4

Louise de Rham (uncredited)

1940

 

William Frawley and Robert Kellard in Stop, Look and Love (1939)

Stop, Look and Love

5.2

Dora Haller

1939

 

The Greener Hills (1939)

The Greener Hills

5.8

Short

Miller Daughter (uncredited)

1939

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

7.0

Amy Lawrence

1938

 

Three Married Men (1936)

Three Married Men

5.7

Sue Cary

1936

 

Richard Dix and Karen Morley in Devil's Squadron (1936)

Devil's Squadron

6.4

Mary

1936

 

Alice Brady, Cora Sue Collins, Russell Hardie, and Ann Rutherford in The Harvester (1936)

The Harvester

6.1

Naomi Jameson

1936

 

Beautiful Dreamer

Short

1935

 

Magnificent Obsession (1935)

Magnificent Obsession

6.8

Ruth

1935

 

Sylvia Sidney in Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935)

Mary Burns, Fugitive

6.8

Little Girl with Eggs

1935

 

Otto Kruger, Martha Sleeper, and Fred Walton in Two Sinners (1935)

Two Sinners

7.4

Sally Pym

1935

 

Adrienne Ames, Douglass Montgomery, and Evelyn Venable in Harmony Lane (1935)

Harmony Lane

5.8

Marian Foster

1935

 

Herbert Marshall, Fredric March, and Merle Oberon in The Dark Angel (1935)

The Dark Angel

6.6

Kitty as a Child

1935

 

Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina (1935)

Anna Karenina

7.0

Tania

1935

 

Peter Lorre and Frances Drake in Mad Love (1935)

Mad Love

7.2

Gogol's Lame Child Patient (uncredited)

1935

 

Jean Arthur and Chester Morris in Public Hero Number 1 (1935)

Public Hero Number 1

6.7

Little Girl (uncredited)

1935

 

Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in Naughty Marietta (1935)

Naughty Marietta

6.5

Felice (uncredited)

1935

 

Bruce Cabot and Dorothy Lee in Without Children (1935)

Without Children

6.7

Carol Cole as a Child

1935

 

Frankie Darro, David Durand, Junior Durkin, Dickie Moore, and Erin O'Brien-Moore in Little Men (1934)

Little Men

6.2

Daisy

1934

 

The World Accuses (1934)

The World Accuses

5.2

'Pat' Collins

1934

 

Myrna Loy and William Powell in Evelyn Prentice (1934)

Evelyn Prentice

6.9

Dorothy Prentice

1934

 

Claire Trevor in Elinor Norton (1934)

Elinor Norton

5.8

Betty - Little Girl (uncredited)

1934

 

Nora Cecil, Cora Sue Collins, Christian Rub, and Douglas Scott in The Spectacle Maker (1934)

The Spectacle Maker

5.9

Short

The Little Princess (uncredited)

1934

 

Hardie Albright, Cora Sue Collins, William Farnum, and Colleen Moore in The Scarlet Letter (1934)

The Scarlet Letter

5.4

Pearl

1934

 

Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper in Treasure Island (1934)

Treasure Island

7.1

Young Girl at the Inn (uncredited)

1934

 

Theresa Harris, Jack Holt, and Fay Wray in Black Moon (1934)

Black Moon

5.9

Nancy Lane

1934

 

Frances Dee and Walter Huston in Keep 'Em Rolling (1934)

Keep 'Em Rolling

6.2

Young Marjorie Deane (uncredited)

1934

 

Jean Muir and Donald Woods in As the Earth Turns (1934)

As the Earth Turns

6.2

Marie

1934

 

Phillips Holmes and Loretta Young in Caravan (1934)

Caravan

6.1

Latzi as a Child (uncredited)

1934

 

New Deal Rhythm (1933)

New Deal Rhythm

5.3

Short

Little Girl (uncredited)

1933

 

Greta Garbo in Queen Christina (1933)

Queen Christina

7.5

Christina as a Child (uncredited)

1933

 

Zita Johann in The Sin of Nora Moran (1933)

The Sin of Nora Moran

6.7

Nora Moran as a Child

1933

 

Myrna Loy, Max Baer, and Primo Carnera in The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)

The Prizefighter and the Lady

6.3

Farmer's Daughter (uncredited)

1933

 

Claudette Colbert in Torch Singer (1933)

Torch Singer

6.7

Sally - 5 Years

1933

 

Glenda Farrell, Kay Francis, and Lyle Talbot in Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933)

Mary Stevens, M.D.

6.5

Jane Simmons (uncredited)

1933

 

Jennie Gerhardt (1933)

Jennie Gerhardt

6.8

Vesta (Age 6)

1933

 

James Cagney and Alice White in Picture Snatcher (1933)

Picture Snatcher

7.0

Jerry's Little Girl (uncredited)

1933

 

Lona Andre and Kent Taylor in The Mysterious Rider (1933)

The Mysterious Rider

6.3

Jo-Jo Foster

1933

 

Zasu Pitts and Slim Summerville in They Just Had to Get Married (1932)

They Just Had to Get Married

7.1

Rosalie

1932

 

Edward G. Robinson and Bebe Daniels in Silver Dollar (1932)

Silver Dollar

6.3

Maryanne Silver-Dollar Echo Honeymoon Martin - as a Girl (uncredited)

1932

 

Fredric March and Norma Shearer in Smilin' Through (1932)

Smilin' Through

6.9

Young Kathleen (uncredited)

1932

 

The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932)

The Strange Case of Clara Deane

6.7

Nancy Deane (as a child)

1932

 

Zasu Pitts and Slim Summerville in The Unexpected Father (1932)

The Unexpected Father

7.4

Pudge

1932

 

Soundtrack

Jane Frazee, Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor, Robert Paige, and Peggy Ryan in Get Hep to Love (1942)

Get Hep to Love

7.0

performer: "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms" (uncredited)

1942

 

Myrna Loy and William Powell in Evelyn Prentice (1934)

Evelyn Prentice

6.9

performer: "Wiegenlied (Lullaby) Op. 49 No. 4" (1868) (uncredited)

1934

 

Self

Film is Dead. Long Live Film! (2024)

Film is Dead. Long Live Film!

7.6

Self

2024

 

Jane Withers in Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4 (1942)

Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4

6.4

Short

Self

1942