“What does he do? Oh, he’s just in business, you know, the way men are.” Emma Newton in “Shadow of a Doubt”
Patricia Collinge was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1892 and made her first stage appearance at the Garrick Theatre in 1904 in Little Black Sambo and Little White Barbara. In 1907, Patricia Collinge moved to America with her mother and began her career as a stage comedian in 1910, creating every part that she played.
One of Patricia’s first roles in America was as a supporting player in “The Thunderbolt”, co-starring Louis Calvert. In 1913, Collinge appeared on Broadway with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr and William Henry Crane in “The New Henrietta”, based on am comedy by Bronson Howard. In 1919, after two years playing the original Pollyanna in “Pollyanna”, Patricia went on tour with the play “Tillie”. In 1939, Patricia appeared as Birdie Hubbard in the Broadway production of The Little Foxes with Tallulah Bankhead and two years made her film debut playing the same part in the film version, starring Bette Davis, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1943, Patricia starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt” and apparently rewrote the dialogue for the scene between Teresa Wright and MacDonald Carey in the garage which Alfred Hitchcock was delighted with. The same year, Patricia also starred in “Tender Comrade” alongside Ginger Rogers.
Patricia Collinge successfully navigated between the different types of acting, appearing on stage, in films and on television and even found time to write plays. Collinge made her television debut in 1961 in “Laramie” and continued her connection with Alfred Hitchcock, appearing in “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”. Patricia’s written works include The Small Mosaics of Mr. and Mrs. Engel, a story of travel in Italy,for which the Italian government awarded her a gold medal. She co-authored the The B.O.W.S., a play about the American Theatre Wing unit with Margalo Gilmore and wrote a series of short stories for the New Yorker .
Patricia Collinge never married and died in New York City at the age of 81.
