🔗 Share this article

The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the age of 85.

Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, in the company of her loved ones after living with Parkinson's for a number of years, according to her family.

Collins will be best remembered for her portrayal of unhappy homemaker Shirley in the director's acclaimed film, adapted from the celebrated stage play by playwright Willy Russell.

Her critically acclaimed performance won her the Golden Globe for outstanding actress as well as a Bafta.

'Sparkling Personality'

Her relatives said in a statement: "Pauline was so many things to countless individuals, portraying diverse characters in her career. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on theater and film. Her illustrious career saw her play politicians, mothers and queens."

"She will always be remembered as the iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise Shirley Valentine - a role that she made all her own. We were familiar with all those parts of her because her charm was embedded in each one of them."

The statement continued she was their "devoted mother, our beloved grandmother and great-grandmother", and actor John Alderton's "life-long love"

"Kind, humorous, giving, considerate, intelligent, she was always there for us," they expressed, appreciating her caregivers, who cared for her with "dignity, compassion, and most of all love"

"She could not have had a calmer departure. We ask that you recall her at the peak of her career; radiant and energetic; and give us the space and privacy to contemplate a life without her"

New York Theater

She initially performed the lead part of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theater in the UK capital in 1988. She won that year's Olivier Award for outstanding actress.

A year later she reprised the role on Broadway, New York, where she picked up numerous prizes including a esteemed Tony Award.

The movie adaptation was launched shortly after.

Additional movie roles included the 1991 film City of Joy with actor Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, which gained her international fame worldwide.

Born in Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near Liverpool and began her professional life as a educator.

Her passion for theater led her to take up acting on a part-time basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a medical attendant in the TV series Emergency Ward 10.

She starred in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, portraying an imaginary performer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theater.

Following several theater parts, she employed her regional dialect to secure a part on the show The Liver Birds.

Her acting career that she met her husband John Alderton. They wed in 1969 and had three children, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.

Alderton and Collins starred together in a number of television and film roles, such as the series Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in ITV's popular series.