“Mockingbird” Actress Collin Wilcox Dies Of Brain Cancer At 74

Posted on October 22, 2009

Collin Wilcox Paxton, most remembered for her role in “To Kill a Mockingbird” as the white girl that accused the black man of rape in the classic movie from 1962. Collin Wilcox died of brain cancer at her home in North Carolina at the age of 74.

Collin Wilcox Paxton was an accomplished stage actress who began appearing on Broadway 1958 with “The Day the Money Stopped” opposite Richard Basehart.

Collin then worked with Tallulah Bankhead in “Crazy October,” Geraldine Page in “Strange Interlude” and Ruth Gordon in “La Bonne Soup,” and also starred in the off-Broadway productions of Tennessee Williams’ “Camino Real” and “Suddenly, Last Summer.”

In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Wilcox Paxton played the role of Mayella Violet Ewell, the daughter of a racist who accused Brock Peters’ character of rape. One of the scenes that is very memorable is when she was cross-examined by Gregory Peck “Atticus Finch”.

Collin later appeared on television in “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90,” “The Waltons” and “Columbo.” But Collin left Hollywood in the early ’80s to care for her mother.

Collin Wilcox Paxton didn’t appear professionally after leaving Hollywood but she and her husband Scott founded the Highlands Studio for the Arts, which offered arts education classes to children. They also created the Instant Theater Company, a local acting troupe.

Collin Wilcox Paxton is survived by her husband Scott Paxton and their children, Kimberley and Michael.

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