The Renowned Actress Pauline Collins, Lead Actress of Shirley Valentine, Dies at the Age of 85
The celebrated actress 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 residence, in the company of her family after battling Parkinson's disease for several years, according to her relatives.
Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in the director's award-winning motion picture, adapted from the celebrated theatrical production by Willy Russell.
Her praised acting also earned her the Golden Globe for outstanding actress as well as a Bafta.
'Witty Presence'
Her relatives released a statement saying: "Pauline was so many things to countless individuals, 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."
"She will always be remembered as the legendary, determined, lively, and insightful 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 beloved grandmother and great-grandmother", and actor John Alderton's "life-long love"
"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was constantly supportive," 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 ask that you recall her at the height of her powers; radiant and energetic; and give us the space and privacy to contemplate a life without her"
New York Theater
Collins first played the lead part of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in the UK capital in 1988. She received that year's Olivier award for outstanding actress.
The following year 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 launched shortly after.
Additional movie roles included the 1991 film City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, which brought her wider recognition globally.
Born in Exmouth in 1940, she grew up near the city of Liverpool and began her professional life as a educator.
Her love of the stage inspired her to pursue acting on a part-time basis, and in 1957 she appeared briefly as a nurse in the Emergency Ward 10.
She starred in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, playing a fictional dancer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theater.
After a number of stage roles, she used her Liverpool accent to land a role on the show The Liver Birds.
It was through acting that she encountered her spouse John Alderton. They married in 1969 and had a family of three, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.
The couple performed together in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in ITV's popular series.
