Jack Collins: Berle, Bewitched, and Bradys

Jack Collins (1918-2005), not to be confused with Jack Rollins, or a Tom Collins, was not a household name, but he was definitely a household face. People my age will know him as Mike’s boss Mr. Phillips on The Brady Bunch, for portraying no fewer than eight McMann & Tate clients on Bewitched, and for playing the mayor in The Towering Inferno (1974), one of his most high profile roles.

How delightful to discover that the Brooklyn actor got his start as a regular on The Milton Berle Show in the early ’50s. At this writing, on Youtube you can find several hilarious Chunky commercials in which Collins plays straight man to fellow Berle cast member Arnold Stang. He also had a recurring part as one of the soldiers on The Phil Silvers Show. But mostly, even when he was quite young, Collins was cast as squares: uptight dads, corporate types, and military officers. His film roles were sporadic. In addition to The Towering Inferno, he was also in Alan Freed’s youth film Rock Rock Rock! (1956), as well as Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), The Sting (1973), Linda Lovelace for President (1975), Irwin Allen’s Flood!(1976), Pete’s Dragon (1977), Goin’ Coconuts (1978, with Donny and Marie), and Jekyll and Hyde…Together Again (1982).

Mostly, his meat and drink was television. His biggest gig in the media was as a third-billed regular on the sit-com Occasional Wife (1966), the appalling premise of which is that the show’s protagonist has to hire a young lady to play his wife at work functions so that he’ll seem like a solid family man. Collins played the boss, of course. His many, many guest shots on television included such shows as The Roaring ’20s, I Dream of Jeannie, The Lucy Show (and Here’s Lucy),Adam-12, Bonanza, The Partridge Family,The Mod Squad, The Jimmy Stewart Show,The Odd Couple,Chico and the Man, and many others, culminating with a recurring role on Dallas.

Jack Collins also appeared in a couple of notable horror films, The Other (1972), and The Nest (1988), his last screen credit. That picture culminates in mutated human-cockroach hybrids. It was not written by Kafka, but you may be delighted to know that it was written by Robert King, the gent who, with his wife Michelle, has created such monster hits as The Good Wife (2009-16) The Good Fight (2017-22), Evil (2019-present), and Elsbeth (2024-present)