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

Pauline Collins, best known for her performance in the movie Shirley Valentine, has died at the age of 85.

Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, surrounded by her family after living with Parkinson's disease for a number of years, according to her family.

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

Her praised acting won her the Golden Globe Award for best actress as well as a BAFTA award.

'Witty Presence'

Collins' family released a statement saying: "She was a multifaceted person to so many people, portraying diverse characters in her life. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure 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 role that she made all her own. We were familiar with all those aspects of her personality because her magic was contained in each one of them."

The statement continued she was their "loving mum, our wonderful grandma and great-grandmother", and actor John Alderton's "life-long love"

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us," they expressed, thanking her carers, who looked after her with "respect, empathy, and above all affection"

"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"

Broadway Role

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 Broadway, New York, where she earned several awards including a prestigious Tony award.

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

Her other films included the 1991 film City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, which gained her international fame worldwide.

A native of 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 medical attendant in the Emergency Ward 10.

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

After a number of stage roles, she employed her regional dialect to land a role on the show The Liver Birds.

Her acting career that she encountered her spouse John Alderton. They married in 1969 and had a family of three, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.

Alderton and Collins starred together in a variety of screen projects, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in the acclaimed ITV program.