Actor, TV host Gary Collins dies at 74

Actor and TV host Gary Collins, in an October 19, 2006 file photo at Century City, Calif. / AP Photo

BILOXI, Miss. Gary Collins, an actor, television show host and former master of ceremonies for the Miss America Pageant, has died. He was 74.

Collins, a resident of Biloxi, Mississippi, died of natural causes just before 1 a.m. Saturday after he was brought to Biloxi Regional Medical Center, according to Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove.

During the 1980s, Collins hosted the Miss America pageant, and played a beauty pageant host in the 2000 film "Beautiful."

He also hosted TV's "Hour Magazine."

As an actor Collins was a cast member of the series "The Wackiest Ship in the Army" in the mid-1960s, and starred in the '70s series "The Sixth Sense" and "Born Free."

He also made innumerable guest appearances on TV during the 1960s through the '90s, on such shows as "Ironside," "The Virginian," "The Name of the Game," "Perry Mason," "The FBI," "Hawaii Five-O," "Dan August," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "McCloud," "Lassie," "Love, American Style," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Barnaby Jones," "The Bionic Woman," "Police Story," "Roots," "Tales of the Unexpected," "The Love Boat," "Charlie's Angel," "Fantasy Island," "Baywatch Nights," "JAG," "The Young and the Restless" and "Dirty Sexy Money."

His film and TV movie credits include "The Pigeon That Took Rome," "Stranded," "Angel in My Pocket," "Airport," "Houston, We've Got a Problem," "The Night They Took Miss Beautiful," "Killer Fish," "Hangar 18" and "Secrets."