🔗 Share this article

The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her role in the movie Shirley Valentine, has died at the eighty-five years old.

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

Collins will be best remembered for her portrayal of unhappy homemaker Shirley in the director's acclaimed motion picture, adapted from the celebrated theatrical production by Willy Russell.

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

'Charming and Witty'

Collins' family released a statement saying: "She was a multifaceted person to so many people, 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 iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise Shirley Valentine - a part she completely owned. 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 "eternal partner"

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us," they expressed, thanking her carers, 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 height of her powers; radiant and energetic; and allow us privacy to contemplate a life without her"

New York Theater

She initially performed the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in the UK capital in 1988. She won that year's Olivier award for best actress.

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

The movie adaptation was released later that year.

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

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 side basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a nurse in the TV series Emergency Ward 10.

She starred in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, playing a fictional dancer in a London adult entertainment venue, the Windmill Theatre.

Following several theater parts, she used her Liverpool accent to secure a part on The Liver Birds.

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

The couple performed together in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she portrayed a servant in ITV's popular series.