The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, best known for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has died at the eighty-five years old.
Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, in the company of her family after living with Parkinson's disease for several years, according to her family.
Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in the director's acclaimed film, based on the acclaimed theatrical production by Willy Russell.
Her praised acting won her the Golden Globe for outstanding actress as well as a BAFTA award.
'Charming and Witty'
Her relatives 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 stage and screen. 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 knew all those aspects of her personality because her charm was embedded in every single role."
They added she was their "devoted mother, our beloved grandmother 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 calmer departure. We ask that you recall her at the peak of her career; radiant and energetic; and give us the space and privacy to reflect on life in her absence"
Broadway Role
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 best actress.
The following year she returned to the character 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 actor Patrick Swayze, shot in Kolkata, which gained her international fame globally.
A native of Exmouth in 1940, she grew up near Liverpool and began her professional life as a educator.
Her love of the stage inspired her to pursue acting on a side basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a medical attendant in the Emergency Ward 10.
She starred in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, portraying an imaginary performer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theatre.
After a number of stage roles, she employed her regional dialect to secure a part on the show The Liver Birds.
Her acting career 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 portrayed a servant in ITV's popular series.
