Cuthbert Quinlan Dale Collins (9 April 1897 – 3 March 1956) was an Australian journalist and author of popular fiction. He is notable for a series of sea romances written in the 1920s and 1930s, some of which were adapted for motion pictures, including Rich and Strange, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which closely followed his novel of the same name.[1]
He was born at Balmain, New South Wales, third son of Michael John Collins, an Irish doctor who had been a ship's surgeon in the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., and his English wife Esther, née Copeland.[2]
Collins's freelance career started at age 17 when his short story "The Riddle" was published in The Australasian, followed by several others until he secured a position in the newsroom of The Herald (Melbourne) in 1922.
In later life he lived in East Malvern, a suburb of Melbourne, and had two daughters, Susan and Felicity.
Collins published 37 books, including some in the under the pen names of 'Stephen Fennimore' and 'Michael Copeland'.[2]