Frank Collison
Encyclopedia
Frank Collison is an American actor
known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
.
, Illinois
, the son of Peg, a publicist, director, and English teacher, and John Collison, a speech therapist, actor, and writer. Collison played his first role as a six month old mascot at The Tent Theatre in Granville, Ohio. His mother directed him in a number of plays as a youth in Virginia and Ohio. When he was a young boy, Frank assisted his father touring with his one-man Abraham Lincoln
show. His father was chosen to play Lincoln for the centennial celebration of Lincoln's first inauguration in Washington, DC; Frank played the young Tad Lincoln.
. He then helped to establish a summer theatre company in the Sierra Nevadas, and went on to gain an MFA
in acting at University of California, San Diego
. Between acting jobs he has worked as a substitute teacher
, diaper service dispatcher and forest firefighter
. Appearing in over 150 productions, he has worked off Broadway and in regional theatres in California, Boston, and Denver. His theatrical roles have been as varied as "Jacob Marley
" in A Christmas Carol
to "Miss Havisham
" in Great Expectations
to "Puck
" in A Midsummer Night's Dream
. Collison is a founding member of the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, which has won over 25 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
s.
, Alien Nation
, Wild at Heart
, Mobsters
, The Last Boy Scout
, Buddy, Diggstown
, My Summer Story
, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
, The Majestic
, The Whole Ten Yards
, Hidalgo
, The Village
, Suspect Zero
and The Happening
. Frank is best known to television audiences as "Horace Bing" the bumbling telegraph operator, on CBS's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
. His numerous television appearances have included guest-starring roles on Monk
, HBO's Carnivàle
, Star Trek: The Next Generation
, Seventh Heaven
, NYPD Blue
, Hill Street Blues
, and,Good Luck Charlie
.
with his wife, the actress Laura Gardner, and his three children. He remains active in theatre while pursuing a film career.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American post-Civil War western/drama series created by Beth Sullivan. Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, played by Jane Seymour, left Boston in search of adventure. She goes to Colorado Springs, Colorado where she establishes herself as doctor/adviser.The show ran on CBS...
.
Early life
Collison was born in EvanstonEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, the son of Peg, a publicist, director, and English teacher, and John Collison, a speech therapist, actor, and writer. Collison played his first role as a six month old mascot at The Tent Theatre in Granville, Ohio. His mother directed him in a number of plays as a youth in Virginia and Ohio. When he was a young boy, Frank assisted his father touring with his one-man Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
show. His father was chosen to play Lincoln for the centennial celebration of Lincoln's first inauguration in Washington, DC; Frank played the young Tad Lincoln.
Stage
Collison trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, earning a BA in theatre from the San Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
. He then helped to establish a summer theatre company in the Sierra Nevadas, and went on to gain an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in acting at University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
. Between acting jobs he has worked as a substitute teacher
Substitute teacher
A substitute teacher is a person who teaches a school class when the regular teacher is unavailable; e.g., because of illness, personal leave, or other reasons. "Substitute teacher" is the most commonly used phrase in the United States, Canada and Ireland, while supply teacher is the most commonly...
, diaper service dispatcher and forest firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
. Appearing in over 150 productions, he has worked off Broadway and in regional theatres in California, Boston, and Denver. His theatrical roles have been as varied as "Jacob Marley
Jacob Marley
Jacob Marley is a fictional character who appears in Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol.- Relationship with Scrooge:In life, Marley was the business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. As teenagers, both men had been apprenticed in business and met as clerks in another business...
" in A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
to "Miss Havisham
Miss Havisham
Miss Havisham is a significant character in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations . She is a wealthy spinster, who lives in her ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella, whom she has sent to France, while she herself is described as looking like "the witch of the place."Although she...
" in Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
to "Puck
Puck (Shakespeare)
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever and mischievous elf and personifies the trickster or the wise knave...
" in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
. Collison is a founding member of the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, which has won over 25 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
s.
Film
Collison's films include The BlobThe Blob (1988 film)
The Blob is a 1988 American monster horror film distributed by Tristar Pictures. It is a remake of the 1958 film of the same name, which starred Steve McQueen. The film was written by Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont and directed by Russell. The shooting took place in Abbeville, Louisiana.-Plot:A...
, Alien Nation
Alien Nation (film)
Alien Nation is a 1988 American science fiction film directed by Graham Baker and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Richard Kobritz and Bill Borden. The storyline was based on a screenplay written by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It stars James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, and Kevyn Major Howard...
, Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart (film)
Wild at Heart is a 1990 American film written and directed by David Lynch, and based on Barry Gifford's 1989 novel Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula. Both the book and the film revolve around Sailor Ripley and Lula Pace Fortune , a young couple from Cape Fear, North Carolina who go on...
, Mobsters
Mobsters
Mobsters is a 1991 crime-drama film detailing the creation of the The Commission. Set in New York City, taking place from 1917 to 1931, it is a semi-fictitious account of the rise of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.-Plot:This highly dramatized...
, The Last Boy Scout
The Last Boy Scout
The Last Boy Scout is a 1991 action film starring Bruce Willis as a former Secret Service agent, now working as a private detective, and Damon Wayans as a retired professional football player. The two join forces to solve the murder of Wayans' character’s girlfriend . The movie was produced by...
, Buddy, Diggstown
Diggstown
Diggstown is a 1992 movie directed by Michael Ritchie, and starring James Woods, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Bruce Dern. It also features Heather Graham, Oliver Platt and Randall "Tex" Cobb.-Synopsis:...
, My Summer Story
My Summer Story
It Runs in the Family is a 1994 film that follows the further adventures of Ralphie Parker and his family from the holiday hit A Christmas Story...
, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
, The Majestic
The Majestic
The Majestic is a 2001 American drama film, directed by Frank Darabont and starring Jim Carrey and Laurie Holden. Written by Michael Sloane, the film features a supporting cast of Martin Landau, James Whitmore, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey DeMunn, Hal Holbrook, and Bruce Campbell. Filmed in Ferndale,...
, The Whole Ten Yards
The Whole Ten Yards
The Whole Ten Yards is a 2004 American Comedy film directed by Howard Deutch and sequel to the 2000 film The Whole Nine Yards. The film stars Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge, and Kevin Pollak.- Plot :...
, Hidalgo
Hidalgo (film)
Hidalgo is a 2004 film based on the legend of the American distance rider Frank Hopkins and his mustang Hidalgo, and recounts Hopkins' racing his horse in Arabia in 1891 against Bedouin riding pure-blooded Arabian horses. The movie was written by John Fusco and directed by Joe Johnston...
, The Village
The Village (2004 film)
The Village is a 2004 American fantasy-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan about a end-of-the-19th-century village whose inhabitants live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. The movie was shot in a recreation of a 19th-century village outside Philadelphia,...
, Suspect Zero
Suspect Zero
Suspect Zero is a 2004 thriller film directed by E. Elias Merhige. It opened to decidedly mixed reviews, and failed to earn back half of its estimated $27 million production costs at the box office.-Plot:...
and The Happening
The Happening (2008 film)
The Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...
. Frank is best known to television audiences as "Horace Bing" the bumbling telegraph operator, on CBS's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American post-Civil War western/drama series created by Beth Sullivan. Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, played by Jane Seymour, left Boston in search of adventure. She goes to Colorado Springs, Colorado where she establishes herself as doctor/adviser.The show ran on CBS...
. His numerous television appearances have included guest-starring roles on Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
, HBO's Carnivàle
Carnivàle
Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes...
, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
, Seventh Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...
, NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...
, Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
, and,Good Luck Charlie
Good Luck Charlie
Good Luck Charlie is an original Disney Channel television sitcom, which premiered April 4, 2010. The series was created by Phil Baker and Drew Vaupen, who wanted to create a program that would appeal to entire families, as opposed to children only...
.
Personal life
Collison lives in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with his wife, the actress Laura Gardner, and his three children. He remains active in theatre while pursuing a film career.