🔗 Share this article

The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, best known for her role in the movie Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the age of 85.

Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, in the company of her family after battling Parkinson's for several years, according to her family.

Her legacy will be defined for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in the director's award-winning motion picture, adapted from the acclaimed theatrical production by Willy Russell.

Her critically acclaimed performance won her the Golden Globe Award for best actress along with a Bafta.

'Sparkling Personality'

Collins' family said in a statement: "Pauline was so many things to countless individuals, playing a variety of roles in her career. A bright, sparky, witty presence on theater and film. Her illustrious career saw her play politicians, mothers and queens."

"Her memory will endure as the legendary, determined, lively, and insightful Shirley Valentine - a part she completely owned. We were familiar with all those parts of her because her magic was contained in each one of them."

They added she was their "devoted mother, our wonderful grandma and great-grandma", and her husband John Alderton's "eternal partner"

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us," they expressed, thanking her caregivers, who looked after her with "dignity, compassion, and most of all love"

"She could not have had a more peaceful goodbye. We ask that you recall her at the peak of her career; radiant and energetic; and allow us privacy to contemplate a life without her"

Stage Success

Collins first played the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in the UK capital in 1988. She received that year's Olivier Award for outstanding actress.

A year later she returned to the character on the New York stage, where she picked up numerous prizes including a prestigious Tony award.

The film of the same name was launched shortly after.

Her other films included the 1991 film City of Joy with actor Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, which brought her wider recognition worldwide.

A native of Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near Liverpool and began her professional life as a teacher.

Her love of the stage led her to take up acting on a part-time basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a nurse in the Emergency Ward 10.

She featured 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 Liver Birds.

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

The couple performed alongside each other 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.