Ray Collins

Acting

Ray Collins

Born — Died

1889-12-10 — 1965-07-11

Place of birth

Sacramento, California, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

73 titles

Ray Bidwell Collins (December 10, 1889 – July 11, 1965) was an American character actor in stock and Broadway theatre, radio, films, and television. With 900 stage roles to his credit, he became one of the most successful actors in the developing field of radio drama. A friend and associate of Orson Welles for many years, Collins went to Hollywood with the Mercury Theatre company and made his feature-film debut in Citizen Kane, as Kane's ruthless political rival. Collins appeared in more than 75 films and had one of his best-remembered roles on television, as the irascible Lieutenant Arthur Tragg on the television series Perry Mason.

Known for

Film credits

1950s · 25 titles

Touch of Evil poster
7.7

A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.

Touch of Evil

1958

The Solid Gold Cadillac poster
6.3

Laura Partridge is a very enthusiastic small stockholder of 10 shares in International Projects, a large corporation based in New York. She attends her first stockholder meeting ready to question the board of directors from their salaries to their operations.

The Solid Gold Cadillac

1956

The Racket poster
6.3

The big national crime syndicate has moved into town, partnering up with local crime boss Nick Scanlon. McQuigg, the only honest police captain on the force, and his loyal patrolman, Johnson, take on the violent Nick.

The Racket

1951

Summer Stock poster
6.7

To Jane Falbury's New England farm comes a troup of actors to put up a show, invited by Jane's sister. At first reluctant she has them do farm chores in exchange for food. Her reluctance becomes attraction when she falls in love with the director, Joe, who happens to be her sister's fiance.

Summer Stock

1950

The Desperate Hours poster
7.0

Escaped convicts terrorize a suburban family they're holding hostage.

The Desperate Hours

1955

Athena poster
5.8

A stuffy young lawyer's outlook on life drastically changes when he meets a perky health food enthusiast and her wacky family.

Athena

1954

Column South poster
6.1

In the weeks prior to the start of the Civil War, Confederate sympathizers hope to help their cause by inciting a Navajo war in the New Mexico Territory. Director Frederick de Cordova's 1953 western stars Audie Murphy, Robert Sterling, Joan Evans, Ray Collins, Dennis Weaver, Palmer Lee, Jack Kelly, James Best, Bob Steele and Ralph Moody.

Column South

1953

Francis poster
5.8

During World War II, a junior American Army officer, Lt. Peter Stirling, gets sent to the psychiatric ward whenever he insists that an Army mule named Francis speaks to him.

Francis

1950

Never Say Goodbye poster
6.5

In present-day U.S., Dr. Michael Parker, a prominent surgeon, unexpectedly runs into his German-born wife whom he thought was dead. Victor, an artist and his "dead" wife's now boyfriend, berates Dr. Parker for "killing" her. The bulk of the story flashes back to Austria during World War II as we learn how Dr. Parker met and married his wife, and the one mistake that may have cost him his family.

Never Say Goodbye

1956

Vengeance Valley poster
5.4

A cattle baron takes in an orphaned boy and raises him, causing his own son to resent the boy. As they get older the resentment festers into hatred, and eventually the real son frames his stepbrother for fathering an illegitimate child that is actually his, seeing it as an opportunity to get his half-brother out of the way so he can have his father's empire all to himself.

Vengeance Valley

1951

You're in the Navy Now poster
5.5

When Lt. John Harkness is assigned as the new skipper of a submarine chaser equipped with an experimental steam engine, he hopes that the U.S.S. Teakettle's veterans will afford him enough help to accomplish the ship's goals. Unfortunately, he finds the crew and its officers share his novice status or only have experience in diesel engines.

You're in the Navy Now

1951

Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation poster
7.1

The Kettles are in Paris along with their daughter-in-law's parents the Parkers. Pa tries to buy racy postcards. He also gets in big trouble when he is given a letter to deliver to Adolph Wade, a spy who gets killed by spies Inez and Cyrus Kraft.

Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation

1952

Rose Marie poster
4.5

Rose Marie Lemaitre, an orphan living in the Canadian wilderness, falls in love with her guardian, Mike Malone, an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The feeling is mutual. But, when she leaves to learn proper etiquette, Rose Marie meets a trapper named James Duval, who also falls for her. Further complications arise when Native American Chief Black Eagle -- a rival of Duval's -- is murdered.

Rose Marie

1954

The Reformer and the Redhead poster
7.6

A small-town politician falls for an idealistic zookeeper.

The Reformer and the Redhead

1950

I Want You poster
5.2

The scene is a small town in the Eastern United States, where the outbreak of hostilities in Korea has a profound effect on several people. WWII veteran Martin Greer wants to re-enlist, much to the dismay of his wife Nancy.

I Want You

1951

Paid in Full poster
6.9

Jane has always done all she can for her selfish sister Nancy. After both fall for handsome Bill, Jane graciously steps aside. Relationships among all parties are further complicated when the now-married Bill realizes he's still in love with Jane.

Paid in Full

1950

Dreamboat poster
6.1

Thornton Sayre, a respected college professor - secretly formerly a silent films romantic action hero - is disturbed, feeling his privacy has been violated, and his professional credibility as a scholar jeopardized, when he learns his old movies have been resurrected and are being aired on TV. He sets out to demand this cease. However, his former co-star is the hostess of the TV show playing the films, and she has other plans.

Dreamboat

1952

Invitation poster
6.7

A rich man buys a husband for his dying daughter and she finds out.

Invitation

1952

Young Man with Ideas poster
5.2

A Montana lawyer gets distracted after moving to California with his wife and children.

Young Man with Ideas

1952

Bad for Each Other poster
6.2

A doctor returned from the Korean War must choose between joining a glamorous practice and helping the poor.

Bad for Each Other

1953

Texas Lady poster
5.7

Claudette Colbert plays Prudence Webb, who arrives in the wide-open town of Fort Ralston, Texas, to assume control of her late father's newspaper. Her first major print crusade is aimed at gambler Chris Mooney, whom Prudence holds responsible for her dad's suicide. She then takes aim at a couple of crooked cattle barons, who'd like nothing better than to put Prudence out of the way for keeps.

Texas Lady

1955

Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm poster
6.7

The Kettles leave their ultra-modern home and return to the country looking for uranium. Ma and Tom's mother-in-law, Mrs. Parker, fight over whether their grandchild will be raised "hygiencially."

Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm

1951

The Miracle on 34th Street poster
5.7

One Kris Kringle, a department-store Santa Claus, causes quite a commotion by suggesting customers go to a rival store for their purchases. But this is nothing to the stir he causes by announcing that he is not merely a make-believe St. Nick, but the real thing.

The Miracle on 34th Street

1955

Invitation to a Gunfighter poster
NR

A gunfighter is terrorizing a small western town. The townspeople finally pool their money to a hire another gunfighter to drive him out of town. The townsfolk thought they had it bad until they handed the reigns over to the new terror. Pooling their money again, this time to hire Jeffers to get rid of Dancer.

Invitation to a Gunfighter

1957

Spoilers of the Forest poster
6.0

Vera Ralston plays Joan Milna, who shares several thousand acres of valuable Montana timberland with her stepfather (John Alderson). Coveting Joan's property, lumber baron Eric Warren (Ray Collins) sends out his foreman Boyd Caldwell (Rod Cameron) to persuade her to sell. Instead, Caldwell falls in love with the girl, vowing to protect her trees from the eco-unfriendly Warren. Republic's wide-screen Naturama process is shown to good advantage throughout Spoilers of the Forest.

Spoilers of the Forest

1957

1940s · 34 titles

Citizen Kane poster
8.0

Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

Citizen Kane

1941

Leave Her to Heaven poster
7.5

A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.

Leave Her to Heaven

1945

The Best Years of Our Lives poster
7.7

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

The Best Years of Our Lives

1946

The Magnificent Ambersons poster
7.3

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

The Magnificent Ambersons

1942

The Man from Colorado poster
6.9

Two friends return home after their discharge from the army after the Civil War. However, one of them has had deep-rooted psychological damage due to his experiences during the war, and as his behavior becomes more erratic--and violent--his friend desperately tries to find a way to help him.

The Man from Colorado

1948

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer poster
6.9

Teenager Susan Turner, with a severe crush on playboy artist Richard Nugent, sneaks into his apartment to model for him and is found there by her sister Judge Margaret Turner. Threatened with jail, Nugent agrees to date Susan until the crush abates.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

1947

A Double Life poster
6.3

A Shakespearian actor starring as Othello opposite his wife finds the character's jealous rage taking over his mind off-stage.

A Double Life

1947

The Fountainhead poster
6.8

An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.

The Fountainhead

1949

Trail Street poster
6.5

Bat Masterson's old friend Billy Burns convinces him to become marshal of Liberal, Kansas and help the residents fight drought and a destructive range war.

Trail Street

1947

Command Decision poster
6.6

High-ranking officers struggle with the decision to prioritize bombing German factories producing new jet fighters over the extremely high casualties the mission will cost.

Command Decision

1948

Badman's Territory poster
6.3

After some gun play with a posse, the James Gang head for Quinto in a section of land which is not a part of America. Anyone there is beyond the law so the town is populated with outlaws. Next to arrive is Sheriff Rowley, following his brother whom the Gang have brought in injured. Rowley has no authority and gets on well enough with the James boys but is soon involved in other local goings-on, including a move to vote for annexation with Oklahoma which would allow the law well and truly in.

Badman's Territory

1946

The Heiress poster
7.8

In 1840s New York, the uneventful and boring days of the daughter of a wealthy doctor come to an end when she meets a dashing poorer man — who may or may not be after her inheritance.

The Heiress

1949

Whistling in Brooklyn poster
7.0

Radio crime show host "The Fox" finds himself on the trail of a serial killer while a suspect himself.

Whistling in Brooklyn

1943

It Happens Every Spring poster
6.6

A scientist discovers a formula that makes a baseball which is repelled by wood. He promptly sets out to exploit his discovery.

It Happens Every Spring

1949

Good Sam poster
6.3

Sam Clayton has a good heart and likes to help out people in need. In fact, he likes to help them out so much that he often finds himself broke and unable to help his own family buy the things they need--like a house.

Good Sam

1948

The Senator Was Indiscreet poster
6.2

A bumbling, long-winded and crooked Southern senator, considered by some as a dark horse for the Presidency, panics his party when his tell-all diary is stolen.

The Senator Was Indiscreet

1947

The Seventh Cross poster
6.8

In Nazi Germany in 1936 seven men escape from a concentration camp. The camp commander puts up seven crosses and, as the Gestapo returns each escapee he is put to death on a cross. The seventh cross is still empty as George Heisler attempts an escape to freedom in Holland.

The Seventh Cross

1944

Crack-Up poster
5.8

Art curator George Steele experiences a train wreck...which never happened. Is he cracking up, or the victim of a plot?

Crack-Up

1946

The Big Street poster
5.8

Meek busboy Little Pinks is in love with an extremely selfish nightclub singer who despises and uses him.

The Big Street

1942

Madame Curie poster
7.2

Poor physics student Marie is studying at the Sorbonne in 1890s Paris. One of the few women studying in her field, Marie encounters skepticism concerning her abilities, but is eventually offered a research placement in Pierre Curie's lab. The scientists soon fall in love and embark on a shared quest to extract, from a particular type of rock, a new chemical element they have named radium. However, their research puts them on the brink of professional failure.

Madame Curie

1943

See Here, Private Hargrove poster
6.5

Journalist Marion Hargrove enters the Army intending to supplement his income by writing about his training experiences. He muddles through basic training at Fort Bragg with the self-serving help of a couple of buddies intent on cutting themselves in on that extra income.

See Here, Private Hargrove

1944

Crime Doctor poster
6.4

Robert is found beside the highway with a head injury and amnesia. His amnesia motivates him to become a Physician and the country's leading criminal psychologist.

Crime Doctor

1943

The Hitler Gang poster
6.3

The Hitler Gang adopts the style of a gangster film as it charts Adolf Hitler’s rise from small-time politico to dictator of Germany.

The Hitler Gang

1944

Barbary Coast Gent poster
5.5

Honest Plush Brannon is a con-man thrown out of the Barbary Coast in San Francisco in the 1880s and headed for the gold rush region of Nevada. He discovers a real mine which lead to several complications.

Barbary Coast Gent

1944

Slightly Dangerous poster
6.0

Small-town soda-jerk Peggy Evans quits her dead-end job and moves to New York where she invents a new identity.

Slightly Dangerous

1943

Two Years Before the Mast poster
6.5

In 1834, Charles Stewart (Alan Ladd), the spoiled, dissolute son of a shipping magnate, is shanghaied aboard the Pilgrim, one of his father's own ships. He embarks upon a long, hellish sea voyage under the tyrannical rule of Captain Francis Thompson (Howard Da Silva), assisted by his first mate, Amazeen (William Bendix). One of his crewmates is Richard Henry Dana Jr. (Brian Donlevy).

Two Years Before the Mast

1946

Commandos Strike at Dawn poster
5.5

A gentle widower with a small daughter finds his peaceful small rural village suddenly invaded by Nazis and, enraged in short order by their atrocities, becomes the leader of an aggressive underground movement.

Commandos Strike at Dawn

1942

Three Wise Fools poster
5.7

An orphan girl melts the hearts of three crusty old men.

Three Wise Fools

1946

Boys' Ranch poster
7.0

A juvenile delinquent is sent to a rehabilitation ranch, but he immediately proves to be a troublemaker.

Boys' Ranch

1946

The Return of Monte Cristo poster
5.4

The grandson of Edmond Dantes was cheated out of his fortune and falsely imprisoned, only to escape and wreak vengeance on his betrayers by assuming the guise of the Count of Monte Cristo. Just like grandpa, the younger Dantes is framed by a trio of connivers and shipped off to Devil's Island. Escaping with a fellow convict, political radical Bombelles, Dantes adopts the bearded guise of an elderly man in order to destroy his enemies and reclaim his birthright.

The Return of Monte Cristo

1946

Salute to the Marines poster
7.2

It is a comic book propaganda film which has Beery as a retired USMC NCO who, when the Japanese invade the Philippines, leads a heroic defense, first by strangling a Nazi agent, and then dying in his dress blues uniform while blowing up a bridge.

Salute to the Marines

1943

Can't Help Singing poster
6.0

With the California Gold Rush beginning, Senator Frost's singing daughter Caroline loves a young army officer; the Senator can't stand him, and has him sent to California. Headstrong Caroline follows him by train, riverboat, and covered wagon, gaining companions en route: a vagrant Russian prince and gambler Johnny Lawlor, who just might take her mind off the army.

Can't Help Singing

1944

The Navy Comes Through poster
6.0

A U.S. Navy crew aboard a merchant marine ship battle Nazis.

The Navy Comes Through

1942

The Human Comedy poster
6.2

Teenager Homer Macauley stays at home in the small town of Ithaca, California to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.

The Human Comedy

1943

Series credits

Perry Mason poster
7.7

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.

Perry Mason

1957

Studio One poster
5.4

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.

Studio One

1948

Climax! poster
3.8

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.

Climax!

1954

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre poster
6.2

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956

Father Knows Best poster
6.6

Family man Jim Anderson copes with the everyday problems among his wife Margaret and their three children as they experience day-to-day changes.

Father Knows Best

1954

Alfred Hitchcock Presents poster
7.8

A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1955

The 20th Century Fox Hour poster
6.0

The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.

The 20th Century Fox Hour

1955

The 20th Century Fox Hour poster
6.0

The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.

The 20th Century Fox Hour

1955

Lux Video Theatre poster
6.7

Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.

Lux Video Theatre

1950

Lux Video Theatre poster
6.7

Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.

Lux Video Theatre

1950

Cavalcade of America poster
4.6

Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.

Cavalcade of America

1952

No artwork available
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

On Trial

1956

No artwork available
7.0

The Halls of Ivy is an NBC radio sitcom that ran from 1950-1952. It was created by Fibber McGee & Molly co-creator/writer Don Quinn before being adapted into a CBS television comedy produced by ITC Entertainment and Television Programs of America. British husband-and-wife actors Ronald Colman and Benita Hume starred in both versions of the show. Quinn developed the show after he had decided to leave Fibber McGee & Molly in the hands of his protégé Phil Leslie. The Halls of Ivy's audition program featured radio veteran Gale Gordon and Edna Best in the roles that ultimately went to the Colmans, who demonstrated a flair for radio comedy during the late 1940s recurring roles on The Jack Benny Program.

The Halls of Ivy

1954