The Renowned Actress Pauline Collins, Star of Shirley Valentine, Dies at 85

The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has died 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 disease for several years, as stated by her family.

Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in Lewis Gilbert's award-winning motion picture, based on the celebrated stage play by Willy Russell.

Her praised acting won her the Golden Globe Award for outstanding actress along with a BAFTA award.

'Charming and Witty'

Her relatives said in a statement: "She was a multifaceted person to countless individuals, portraying diverse characters in her life. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on stage and screen. Her distinguished work saw her play politicians, mothers and queens."

"She will always be remembered as the legendary, determined, lively, and insightful Shirley Valentine - a role that she made all her own. We knew all those parts of her because her charm was embedded in each one of them."

They added she was their "loving mum, our wonderful grandma and great-grandmother", and her husband John Alderton's "life-long love"

"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 experienced a more peaceful goodbye. We hope you will remember her at the peak of her career; so joyful and full of energy; and give us the space and privacy to contemplate a life without her"

Broadway Role

Collins first played the lead part of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in London in 1988. She won that year's Olivier award for best actress.

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

The film of the same name was released later that year.

Additional movie roles included the 1991 film City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, shot in Kolkata, which gained her international fame globally.

Born in Exmouth in 1940, she grew up near Liverpool and began her professional life as a educator.

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

She starred in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, portraying an imaginary performer in a London adult entertainment venue, the Windmill Theater.

Following several theater parts, she used her Liverpool accent to land a role on the show The Liver Birds.

Her acting career that she met her husband John Alderton. They married in 1969 and had a family of three, their sons and daughter.

Alderton and Collins starred together in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she portrayed a servant in the acclaimed ITV program.