🔗 Share this article Pauline Collins, Star of Shirley Valentine, Dies at the Age of 85 Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her role 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 family after battling Parkinson's for several years, as stated by her relatives. Collins will be best remembered for her portrayal of disgruntled housewife Shirley in Lewis Gilbert's award-winning motion picture, adapted from the celebrated theatrical production by playwright Willy Russell. Her praised acting won her the Golden Globe Award for best actress along with a Bafta. 'Sparkling Personality' Collins starred opposite her spouse John Alderton in Upstairs Downstairs, featured between 1971 to 1973 Her relatives said in a statement: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. 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 role that she made all her own. We were familiar with all those parts of her because her magic was contained in each one of them." They added she was their "loving mum, our beloved grandmother and great-grandma", and her husband John Alderton's "life-long love" "Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us," they expressed, appreciating her carers, who cared for her with "respect, empathy, and above all affection" "She could not have had a more peaceful goodbye. 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" Stage Success She initially performed the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in London in 1988. She won that year's Olivier Award for best actress. A year later she returned to the character on Broadway, New York, where she earned several awards including a esteemed Tony Award. The movie adaptation was launched shortly after. Her other films included 1991's City of Joy with actor 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 passion for theater led her to take up acting on a side basis, and in 1957 she appeared briefly as a medical attendant in the Emergency Ward 10. She featured in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, portraying an imaginary performer in a London adult entertainment venue, the Windmill Theater. Following several theater parts, she employed her regional dialect to secure a part on the show The Liver Birds. Her acting career that she met her husband John Alderton. They wed in 1969 and had three children, their sons and daughter. The couple performed alongside each other in a variety of screen projects, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in ITV's popular series.