Other
Characters: Nora Collins 1897, Amy Collins
1970 Parallel Time (pictured)
The young orphaned
sister of Chris and Tom Jennings, Amy enters Collinwood as
a reserved, traumatised child, deeply disturbed by the premature
loss of her parents. Elizabeth Collins Stoddard takes
pity on the girl, and allows her to stay with in Collinwood,
in the hope that the companionship of young David Collins
will bring some lightness to an otherwise darkened life. However,
dark forces at Collinwood have other plans...
Denise
Nickerson was born
1 April 1959, in New York City and began acting at an early
age. In addition to performing in numerous commercials,
she also acted off Broadway in Lolita, My Love, and
on Broadway in Peter Pan, Sherry and Our Town.
Whilst working on
Dark Shadows, she enjoyed a close friendship with child
co-star David Henesy, and the pair
even opened a short-lived cast restaurant together at the
studio. In 1970, Denise left the show and shortly afterwards
filmed the role of Violet Beauregarde in the classic family
movie, Willy Wonka and
the Chocolate Factory, for which she is probably best
remembered.
On daytime television,
she also worked on The Doctors and Search for Tomorrow.
Denise worked extensively in episodic television throughout
the 1970s, in shows such as The Brady Bunch, Bert D'Angelo,
The Electric Company, Flipper, The Jackie Gleason Show and
Superstar. Denise's other film credits include
The Neon Ceiling (1970), for which she won an Emmy,
The Man Who Could Talk to Kids (1973), Smile
(1975), Child of Glass (1978) and finally Zero to
60 in 1978.
At the end of the
1970s, Denise chose to retire from acting, though remains
affectionate about her time as a thespian. For a time
she worked in nursing, before settling into accountancy work.
Today, Denise continues
to work as an accountant, and raises her son Joshua.
She continues to make personal appearances at nostalgia events
for Dark Shadows and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory. In 2001, she stepped in front of the microphone
to record commentary for a new DVD release of Willy Wonka.
She maintains contact with fans via The
Official Denise Nickerson Website.
With
thanks to Craig Hamrick
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