The Renowned Actress Pauline Collins, Lead Actress of Shirley Valentine, Dies at Eighty-Five Years Old
The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, best known for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the age of 85.
Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, in the company of her loved ones after battling Parkinson's disease for a number of years, according to her family.
Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of disgruntled housewife Shirley in Lewis Gilbert's acclaimed motion picture, adapted from the acclaimed stage play by Willy Russell.
Her critically acclaimed performance also earned her the Golden Globe Award for outstanding actress along with a Bafta.
'Sparkling Personality'
Collins' family said in a statement: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her career. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on theater and film. 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 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-grandma", and her husband John Alderton's "eternal partner"
"Kind, humorous, giving, considerate, intelligent, she was always there for us," they expressed, thanking her carers, 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; radiant and energetic; and allow us privacy to contemplate a life without her"
New York Theater
Collins first played 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.
The following year 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.
Her other films included 1991's City of Joy with actor Patrick Swayze, shot in Kolkata, which gained her international fame globally.
A native of Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near the city of Liverpool and began her professional life as a teacher.
Her love of the stage inspired her to pursue acting on a part-time 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.
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.
The couple performed alongside each other in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in ITV's popular series.
