🔗 Share this article

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

She died peacefully in her London care home, surrounded by her family after living with Parkinson's for several years, as stated by her relatives.

Her legacy will be defined for her depiction of disgruntled housewife Shirley in the director's acclaimed motion picture, adapted from the acclaimed theatrical production by Willy Russell.

Her critically acclaimed performance also earned her the Golden Globe for outstanding actress along with a BAFTA award.

'Charming and Witty'

Collins' family released a statement saying: "Pauline was so many things to countless individuals, playing a variety of roles in her life. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on stage and screen. Her illustrious career saw her portray leaders, parents, and royalty."

"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 every single role."

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

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

"She could not have had a calmer departure. 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"

New York Theater

She initially performed the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theater in London in 1988. She received that year's Olivier award for outstanding actress.

The following year she reprised the role on the New York stage, where she earned several awards including a esteemed Tony Award.

The movie adaptation was launched shortly after.

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

Born in Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near the city of 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 medical attendant in the TV series Emergency Ward 10.

She featured in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, playing a fictional dancer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theatre.

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

It was through acting that she encountered her spouse John Alderton. They wed in 1969 and had a family of three, their sons and daughter.

Alderton and Collins starred alongside each other in a number of television and film roles, such as the series Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in the acclaimed ITV program.