Venice-Born Actor Dies

Gary Collins, a syndicated TV star from the 1980s who was born in Venice, died on Saturday at a hospital in Biloxi, Miss. He was 74. Collins died at Biloxi Regional Medical Center just after 1 a.m. Central time, the Biloxi Sun-Herald reported.

A sheriff's deputy said Collins died of natural causes. His wife, former Miss America Mary Anne Mobley, survives him. The couple moved to her native Brandon, Miss. in the mid 2000s.

Collins became a star in local television markets all across the nation, as a co-host of "Hour Magazine," an early-afternoon syndicated show that took advantage of federal regulations that opened up early evening hours for "local" telecasts.

Collins was born in Venice and attended Santa Monica City College before enlisting in the U.S. Army, where he was a radio and television performer on the Armed Forces Network.

He married Mobley in 1967 and they had one child together, Mary Clancy Collins. An earlier marriage to Susan Peterson brought them a son, Guy William. and a daughter, Melissa, according to some reports.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame placed funeral flowers at his star, 6922 Hollywood Blvd. on Saturday.