Actress. She appeared in some 80 television programs, motion pictures and theatre productions from the late 1950s until the early 2000s. Wilcox is best known for her role as Mayella Ewell in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), playing the alleged victim of a racially-charged 1930s rape case. Raised in Highlands, North Carolina, her parents established a local theatre company from where she would acquire early performing skills. She attended the University of Tennessee and furthered her studies at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago. She would later move to New York and study at the Actors Studio where she was mentored by the renowned Lee Strasberg. In 1958, she made her Broadway debut in the drama "The Day the Money Stopped" and was recipient of the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Female with her role of 'Ellen Wells'. That same year she began what was to be a lengthy career of guest appearances on the small screen, in such programs as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "The Untouchables", "The Defenders", "The Waltons", "Columbo", "Quincy M.E.", and many others. Among her additional film credits include "Catch-22" (1970), "The Baby Maker" (1970) and "Jaws 2" (1978). She co-founded The Highlands Studio for the Arts during the late-1970s and helped establish The Instant Theatre Company in Highlands, North Carolina in 1981. Married three times, she was sometimes credited as Wilcox-Horne or Wilcox-Paxton. She died from complications of a brain tumor.
Actress. She appeared in some 80 television programs, motion pictures and theatre productions from the late 1950s until the early 2000s. Wilcox is best known for her role as Mayella Ewell in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), playing the alleged victim of a racially-charged 1930s rape case. Raised in Highlands, North Carolina, her parents established a local theatre company from where she would acquire early performing skills. She attended the University of Tennessee and furthered her studies at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago. She would later move to New York and study at the Actors Studio where she was mentored by the renowned Lee Strasberg. In 1958, she made her Broadway debut in the drama "The Day the Money Stopped" and was recipient of the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Female with her role of 'Ellen Wells'. That same year she began what was to be a lengthy career of guest appearances on the small screen, in such programs as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "The Untouchables", "The Defenders", "The Waltons", "Columbo", "Quincy M.E.", and many others. Among her additional film credits include "Catch-22" (1970), "The Baby Maker" (1970) and "Jaws 2" (1978). She co-founded The Highlands Studio for the Arts during the late-1970s and helped establish The Instant Theatre Company in Highlands, North Carolina in 1981. Married three times, she was sometimes credited as Wilcox-Horne or Wilcox-Paxton. She died from complications of a brain tumor.
Bio by: C.S.
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