Monte Collins
Collins as he appeared around 1928
Born	Monte Francis Collins, Jr. (1898-12-03)December 3, 1898 New York, New York U.S.
Died	June 1, 1951(1951-06-01) (aged 52) Hollywood, California U.S.
Resting place	Glen Haven Memorial Park Sylmar, California
Occupation(s)	Actor Screenwriter
Years active	1920–1951

Monte Collins (also credited asMonty Collins; December 3, 1898 – June 1, 1951) was an American film actor andscreenwriter. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1920 and 1948. He also wrote for 32 films between 1930 and 1951.

Dapper, pencil-mustached Collins starred in silent short comedies in the late 1920s. These were produced byEducational Pictures and often directed byJules White. Prior, he had worked as a director inPortland, Oregon.^[1] The coming of sound in movies had no ill effect on Collins's career; he was not as big a name asBuster Keaton orLaurel and Hardy, so Collins had no preconceived screen image that could be shattered by talkies. Although Collins took to talkies easily (he andVernon Dent sing together in the early sound shortTicklish Business), he never established himself as a major comedy star. Throughout the 1930s he appeared in secondary roles (businessmen, butlers, soldiers, salesmen, etc.) in both feature films and short subjects.

Collins was usually Jules White's first choice when casting supporting players. White's 1932 shortShow Business, starringZaSu Pitts andThelma Todd, co-stars Collins as the frustrated manager of a vaudeville troupe traveling by train. (Collins reprised the role in White's 1947 remake,Training for Trouble, starringGus Schilling andRichard Lane.) When Jules White organized the short-subject department atColumbia Pictures in 1933, he remembered Collins and hired him. (Collins appears as "Mr. Zero," airing a grievance in theThree Stooges' first Columbia short,Woman Haters.)

Columbia historianTed Okuda says Monte Collins was theDan Aykroyd of his day: a reliable, skilled comedian who usually assisted other stars in getting laughs, rather than driving the action by himself. Jules White recognized this capability, and teamed Collins with "big and dumb" comicTom Kennedy. The Collins & Kennedy partnership ran only a few years, but White continued to use both actors as all-purpose supporting players. White co-starred Monte Collins in three of hisBuster Keaton comedies; Collins also appeared prominently in Columbia comedies withHarry Langdon,Charley Chase,El Brendel,Andy Clyde,Vera Vague, and The Three Stooges. He was memorably cast as the Stooges' mother in their 1942 comedyCactus Makes Perfect.

Collins also contributed to the staging of visual gags, and he began receiving screen credit as a writer (now as "Monty" Collins) in 1942. He worked behind the scenes throughout the 1940s as a writer or dialogue coach, while appearing occasionally in front of the cameras. In 1947, he partnered with actorRobert Paige to produce an independent feature film,The Green Promise.

One of his last credits was supplying material forLaurel and Hardy's final film,Atoll K (1951). Filmed in France by French and Italian cast and crew members, the production was hectic and chaotic for the English-speaking stars. The finished film carries the unique credit, "Gags by Monty Collins."

Collins was about to launch a career in television when he died of aheart attack in 1951, at age 52. He was interred at Glen Haven Memorial Park inSylmar.^[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMonte Collins.

• Monte Collins atIMDb

• 1898 births
• 1951 deaths
• American male film actors
• American male silent film actors
• Male actors from New York City
• 20th-century American male actors

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from July 2020
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link from Wikidata