🔗 Share this article

Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her role in the film Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the eighty-five years old.

She died peacefully in her London care home, surrounded by her family after battling Parkinson's disease for a number of years, as stated by her family.

Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in the director's award-winning film, adapted from the acclaimed theatrical production by Willy Russell.

Her praised acting won her the Golden Globe Award for outstanding actress as well as a Bafta.

'Witty Presence'

Her relatives released a statement saying: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, 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."

"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 aspects of her personality because her magic was contained in each one of them."

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

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was constantly supportive," they said, appreciating her carers, who cared for 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; so joyful and full of energy; and give us the space and privacy to reflect on life in her absence"

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 outstanding actress.

The following year she reprised the role on the New York stage, where she picked up numerous prizes including a esteemed Tony Award.

The movie adaptation was launched shortly after.

Her other films included the 1991 film City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, shot in Kolkata, which brought her wider recognition globally.

Born in Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near Liverpool and started out her career as a teacher.

Her love of the stage inspired her to pursue acting on a side basis, and in 1957 she appeared briefly as a nurse 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 land a role on The Liver Birds.

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

Alderton and Collins starred alongside each other in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she portrayed a servant in ITV's popular series.