Lois Collier

The unofficial "Fourth Mesqueteer" in seven of Republic's Three Mesqueteers Westerns during 1941-1942, diminutive, dark-haired Lois Collier had been Madelyn Earle when appearing in such films as Monogram's Women Must Dress in 1935. She later played a character named Lois Collier on the CBS radio show Hollywood in Person and retained the moniker performing with various stock companies when she returned to films in 1938. Never a major name, Collier popped up in scores of B-Movies in the 1940s, including the action serials Jungle Queen (1945 -- Ruth Roman played the eponymous title character while Collier essayed the standard heroine role) and Flying Disc Man From Mars (1950). Collier is perhaps better remembered for portraying Mary Westley on the 1951-1953 television mystery series Boston Blackie. Working opposite Kent Taylor and Whitey the Dog was, she later stated, "the most pleasant experience of my career." Retiring from performing after the series' cancellation, Collier spent her final years at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. She died from Alzheimer's disease in 1999 at the age of 80.

~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide