John H. Collins
actor, director, writer
- Birth name:
- John Hancock Collins
- Born:
- 1889-12-31, New York City, New York, USA
- Died:
- 1918-10-23, New York City, New York, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
A winter baby delivered to Manhattan on the last day of 1889, John H. Collins grew into one of early Hollywood’s most restless storytellers. Behind the camera he marshaled chaos into emotion: the tenement fury of Children of Eve (1915), the eerie innocence of The Girl Without a Soul (1917), and the shadow-laced suspense of Riders of the Night (1918). Off-set he shared his life with spark-plug actress Viola Dana. The 1918 flu pandemic cut that life short on 23 October, leaving the city that had launched him to mourn a talent barely out of its first act.
