Actress Shirley Valentine Pauline Collins dies at the age of 85 | film

Shirley Valentine actress Pauline Collins has died at the age of 85, her family has announced.

They added that she died peacefully, surrounded by her family at the care home in Highgate, north of London, after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for several years.

Collins starred in the first series of the BBC comedy The Liver Birds, but did not become a household name until landing a regular role on Upstairs, Downstairs in 1971. She married fellow actor John Alderton in 1969. Her role in the 1989 film Shirley Valentine earned her an Academy Award and BAFTA nomination for Best Actress.

“Pauline was many things to many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. She was a bright, radiant and intelligent presence on stage and screen. Her illustrious career saw her play politicians, mothers and queens,” her family said in a statement on Thursday.

“We will always remember her as the iconic, strong-willed, spirited and wise Shirley Valentine – a role she created for herself. We were familiar with all those parts of her because her magic was in every one of them.”

“More than anything, she was our loving mother, wonderful grandmother and great-grandmother. She was warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, and always there for us. And June [Alderton’s] Love for life. Partner, business collaborator, and wife of 56 years.

“We especially want to thank her caregivers: the angels who cared for her with dignity, compassion, and most of all love. She could not have had a more peaceful sendoff. We hope you remember her at the peak of her powers; so happy and full of energy; and giving us the space and privacy to reflect on life without her.”

Collins took on the role of Shirley Valentine in the stage version on London’s West End and New York’s Broadway before appearing in the film adaptation alongside Tom Conti.

The actress began her career in television, and after appearing as Samantha Briggs in the series Doctor Who in 1967, she was offered another 39 episodes, but she turned it down.

In a 2012 interview with The Guardian, Collins said the opportunity felt like a “prison sentence.” “It probably would have given me a profile earlier in my career, but then I would have missed out on a lot of things,” she said.

Her television credits also include the UK’s first medical soap, Emergency Ward 10.

This was followed by one series of Honestly No, in which she and Alderton played a married couple.

In 2005, Collins starred as Miss Flite in the BBC film adaptation of Bleak House. In 2013, she appeared in Quartet, Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, in which she played a former opera singer with dementia.

When he was offered the role, Collins told The Guardian at the time: “Surprises. That’s what I love about this job. Even at my age, you can get surprises. I thought… [Hoffman] He doesn’t even know me.”

Collins’ film credits include City of Joy alongside Patrick Swayze, Heaven’s Way and Mrs. Caldecott’s Cabbage War, in which she appeared alongside her husband.

Alderton said: “Pauline Collins was a brilliant star. I have had the good fortune to have worked with her more than any other actor in many TV series, films and West End theater shows together and witnessed her genius at close quarters.”

“What I saw was not only her wonderful array of diverse personalities, but her magic in bringing out the best in all the people she worked with. She wanted everyone to be special, and she did so by never saying, ‘Look at me.’” It is no surprise that she was voted the nation’s idol in the 1970s.

“We will always remember Shirley Valentine, not only for her Oscar nomination or for the film itself, but for taking home all seven awards when she portrayed her on Broadway, playing each character as herself.

“But her greatest performance has been as my wife and mother to our beautiful children.”