Brent Collins (1941 – January 6, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his role as Mr. Big on As The World Turns from 1982 to 1983 and as Wallingford on Another World, whom he played from 1984 until his death.
On the latter show, he played the friend and confidante of Felicia Gallant (Linda Dano) and Cass Winthrop (Stephen Schnetzer). These three characters were given much screen time in the mid-1980s and gave Collins the highest level of fame he experienced in his career.
A dwarf, Collins was also diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, which traditionally causes its sufferers to grow larger than normal in size. Late in 1987, Collins grew rapidly from his short stature, which led to his fatal heart attack. This situation is very rare, and very few cases have been documented in medical records.
He also was a guest-star on shows such as Spenser: For Hire, The Golden Girls, and The Streets of San Francisco.
Brent Collins was a dwarf who suffered from Marfan syndrome - the same disorder that made both President Abraham Lincoln and Russian Figure Skater Sergei Grinkov, elongated gangly giants amongst most other people. Grinkov died of an heart attack due to Marfan's, in a similiar manner as Brent Collins did in being a dwarf. There are documented rare cases of individuals who suffer from Marfan syndrome suddenly over a period of a few weeks, suddenly growing from being a dwarf to being a giant, some suspect that might have happened to Collins in late 1987.
