Her first stage performance was at the Garrick Theatre in London, England in 1904 in Little Black Sambo and Little White Barbara.
Collinge came to America with her mother in 1907. She appeared as a "flower girl" in The Queens of the Moulin Rouge. She began her career as a stage comedian in 1910 and created every part she played.
Collinge began as one of the supporting players in The Thunderbolt, which starred Louis Calvert as James Mortimer. The theatrical entertainment dealt with a country family in Singlehampton, England. The production was staged at the New Theatre (Century Theater).
She was in Everywoman at the Herald Square Theater in March 1911. The title role was played by Adele Blood. Collinge acted with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr and William Henry Crane in The New Henrietta, a modern play based on a comedy by Bronson Howard. It was produced at the Knickerbocker Theatre on Broadway in December 1913. Collinge played the role of Agnes, the ward of Crane's character Van Alstyne. She marries Bertie, played by Fairbanks.
Collinge toured with in A Regular Businessman, was the original Pollyanna Whittier in Polyanna, and toured with Tillie in 1919 after a successful two years performing Pollyanna.
In 1932 Collinge appeared in Autumn Crocus. Her acting was acclaimed by a New York Times critic, who said of her: Miss Collinge plays with the soft, pliant sincerity that makes her one of the most endearing actresses.
She was in the Broadway cast of The Little Foxes with Tallulah Bankhead in 1939, playing the role of Birdie Hubbard. Two years later, she played the same part in the motion picture version, which starred Bette Davis.
Her other plays include The Heiress, Just Suppose, The Dark Angel, The Importance of Being Earnest, To See Ourselves, and Lady With A Lamp. Her final stage appearance came at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in December 1952, in I've Got Sixpence.
Collinge debuted in film in 1941 in The Little Foxes, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other films include Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Teresa (1951), Washington Story (1952), and The Nun's Story (1959).
According to the featurette included in the DVD of Shadow of a Doubt, Collinge actually rewrote the scene between Teresa Wright and MacDonald Carey in the garage. At the time, Hitchcock and the actors were not too happy with the dialogue as written and Collinge rewrote it. Hitchcock was reported to be delighted and use her rewrite.
She was in television dramas beginning with an episode of Laramie (1961). She appeared in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1961), The United States Steel Hour (1962), East Side/West Side (1963), two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962-1964), and N.Y.P.D. (1967).
She wrote the play Dame Nature (1938), which was an adaptation of a French drama. Collinge penned The Small Mosaics of Mr. and Mrs. Engel, a story of travel in Italy, for which she received a gold medal from the Italian government. With Margalo Gillmore, she co-authored The B.O.W.S., a play about the American Theatre Wing unit which performed The Barretts of Wimpole Street to soldiers in Italy and France during World War II. She also wrote a series of short stories for the New Yorker and contributed to the New York Times Book Review. She was a councilor of Actors Equity.
Patricia Collinge died in 1974 in New York City, aged 81, following a heart attack. Her home was at Beekman Place.
