William Collier

The son of Edmund Collier, English tragedian, and Henrietta Engel, actress, William Collier was born on Varick Street, New York, November 12, 1866. When he was ten he ran away from home and joined J.H. Haverly's Juvenile Company performing Pinafore. He toured with it for fourteen months. Julia Marlow was in the company. Returning home, he was sent back to school. He graduated from grammar school and after one year at St. John's Parish School he quit. For the next six years was call boy and played bits at Augustin Daly's Theatre. In 1889 he joined John Russell's company and played eccentric parts in Hoyt farces. On April 19, 1897, he became a star in The Man From Mexico. He became famous as a comedian of light farce. He knew the value of a pause, depended upon pantomime and a confiding manner to get his laughs. A quiet, neat, conservative, well-dressed man, Mr. Arliss was five feet ten inches tall, had brown hair and hazel eyes. He wrote with collaborates many of his own comedies including Caught in the Rain, The Patriot, Never Say Die, and The Hottentot. He was married twice. His first wife, Louise Allen, actress died in 1909, and the following year he married Paula Marr, a member of his company. He had one adopted son, William Collier, Jr. He liked to drink, but being Catholic he would abstain from liquor during Lent. He was superstitious, afraid of thunder and lightening and opening nights. A rabid baseball fan, he liked violets, Dickens, Shakespeare and pool. He admired and was a great friend of George M. Cohan. He disliked English actors, pretense and Volstead. His last appearance on the stage was in 1927 in a revue, Merry-Go-Round. In 1929 he moved to Hollywood where he appeared in motion pictures. He died there on January 13, 1944.