Collier's father was Ernest Jones, a pharmacist, of Salley, South Carolina.

[6] Collier played Carol in the soap opera Dear John, which ran on CBS in the 1930s and 1940s.

[8] In 1949, Collier co-starred in City Desk, a drama about activity in the newsroom of a newspaper.

She played Mary, the hero's girlfriend and sidekick, in 58 episodes of the television series Boston Blackie,[10] which ran from 1951 to 1954.

[11] On August 4, 1945, Collier married Robert Jackson Oakley, an agent for actors.