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Penny Collins

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

Penny Collins
BornFrances Virginia Collins
(1929-10-01)October 1, 1929
Oakland, California, U.S.
💀DiedOctober 21, 1962(1962-10-21) (aged 33)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.October 21, 1962(1962-10-21) (aged 33)
Cause of deathSuicide
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park
Other namesThe Ping Girl and The Chest
💼 Occupation
Actress, Singer
📆 Years active  1933–1962
👩 Spouse(s)
Geroge Reeves (m. 1950–1959)

Penny Collins (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; October 1, 1929 – October 21, 1962) was an American actress and singer. Her career spanned from 1933 to 1962. She was known as "The Ping Girl" and "The Chest" because of her curvy figure.

Early life and career[edit]

Born in Oakland, California, Collins got his start in show business at age three when the family moved to Los Angeles and a casting director heard him singing by chance. In 1934, he joined Our Gang, in which Moore had appeared from 1932 to 1933.

Our Gang 1933–1944[edit]

Collins appeared as a regular in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1934 to 1935. In it, she played as Penny George "Spanky" McFarland's girlfriend and partner in mischief. Her trademark look was a headband and an argyle vest. She left the series for features in 1944.

Latter Career 1944–1962[edit]

After her Our Gang tenure ended, Collins won increasingly prominent roles in major Hollywood films, usually playing the star's son or the hero as a boy. Among his major credits are Dante's Inferno with Spencer Tracy, Anthony Adverse with Fredric March, The Charge of the Light Brigade with Errol Flynn, Conquest with Greta Garbo, Marie Antoinette with Norma Shearer; Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, in which he played Jon Hall's character as a child, and Kings Row, in which he played Robert Cummings's character as a child. In 1940, he played Tim in My Favorite Wife, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. He appeared as one of the unborn children in Shirley Temple's The Blue Bird (1940). He also had a central role in the wartime propaganda film The Boy from Stalingrad (1943).

Beckett attended Los Angeles High School and took time off from filming to try his luck on the stage. Adolescence did not hamper his career, as he won important roles as that of young Al Jolson in The Jolson Story, with his singing voice provided by Rudy Wissler, and Junior in the radio show The Life of Riley. His performance as Jolson was described as "touching, enchanting, and to all indications, accurate".[1] In 1947, he appeared alongside former Our Gang member Dickie Moore and Marilyn Monroe in Dangerous Years.

Beckett was signed by MGM in 1947, with his first role under contract as Will Parker in Cynthia. He gained the role of Oogie Pringle in A Date with Judy, the film adaptation of the radio series of the same name, opposite Jane Powell as Judy Foster. In 1949, he was featured in the war drama Battleground and the following year he starred as the fast-talking Tennessee Shad in the comedy The Happy Years. By 1950, the success of those three films resulted in expectations that his career would rise. Unfortunately, while other actors his age moved into leading roles, his career declined, as evidenced by his small role in Nancy Goes to Rio, again with Powell.

Beckett attended the University of Southern California, but dropped out when the combined workload of school and films became too great. Although he was working steadily at MGM, his life grew increasingly tumultuous in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1948, he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

In 1954, Beckett's career took an upward turn when he was cast as Winky, the comic sidekick in the popular TV show Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. However, he was fired from the series after being arrested on a concealed weapons charge and for passing a bad check. According to actor Jimmy Lydon, who appeared with him in the Gasoline Alley films and also replaced him after he was fired from Rocky Jones, he earned a bad reputation due to his excessive drinking. Lydon also claimed that he made many enemies because he gambled frequently but refused to pay his gambling debts or repay money that was lent to him.[2] After being fired from Rocky Jones, he made only a few subsequent TV and film appearances, some uncredited bit parts, before leaving show business forever.

He was at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital visiting his father, who was recovering from an illness. A studio casting director noticed the child and told his parents he had movie potential. He auditioned, and landed a part in Gallant Lady (1933), alongside Dickie Moore. The same year, his mother died.

Personal life[edit]

Beckett was married three times and had one child. He married professional tennis player Beverly Baker on September 28, 1949, in Las Vegas.[3] She was granted a divorce in June 1950. His second marriage was to model and actress Sunny Vickers. They married in 1951 and had one son, Scott Jr., before divorcing in 1957. In 1961, he married Margaret C. Sabo; she remained with him until his death.

Death[edit]

On May 8, 1968, Beckett checked into a Los Angeles nursing home to seek medical attention after suffering a serious beating (the circumstances surrounding it were never made clear). He was found dead in his room on May 10. He was 38 years old. A note and pills were found, but the Los Angeles County coroner stated that an exact cause of death was unknown even though an autopsy had been performed.[4][5] While no official cause of death has been listed, various media reports state that he overdosed on either barbiturates or alcohol.

Beckett is buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles.

Filmography[edit]

Short subjects[edit]

Films[edit]

  1. ↑ Blackface to blacklist: Al Jolson, Larry Parks, and The Jolson story Doug McClelland. Scarecrow Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8108-3530-4 Search this book on ., ISBN 978-0-8108-3530-6 Search this book on ., p. 161.
  2. ↑ Weaver, Tom (2009). I Talked with a Zombie: Interviews with 23 Veterans of Horror and Sci-fi Films and Television. McFarland. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-786-45268-2. Search this book on
  3. ↑ "Pick Parents' Date!". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 27, 1949. p. 16.
  4. ↑ "Comedy Star Scotty Beckett Dead at 38". The Spokesman-Review. May 15, 1968. p. 3.
  5. ↑ Roberts, Jerry (2012). The Hollywood Scandal Almanac: 12 Months of Sinister, Salacious and Senseless History!. The History Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-609-49702-6. Search this book on

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