Pauline Collins - better known as Shirley Valentine - has died at 85 husband confirms
The actress best known as Shirley Valentine - Pauline Collins - has died at the age of 85 her husband has confirmed.
Pauline Collins - known to millions for her portrayal of Shirley Valentine in the 1989 film of the same name - has died at the age of 85, her family has announced. The actor passed away “peacefully at her care home in Highgate this week, having endured Parkinson’s for several years”, they said.
“We are heartbroken to announce that Pauline Collins died peacefully at her care home in Highgate this week, having endured Parkinson’s for several years,” the family added. “She was surrounded by her family.”
Born in Exmouth, Devon, in 1940, Collins was raised near Liverpool and began her career as a teacher. But after taking up acting part-time, she landed her first television role as a nurse in the series Emergency Ward 10.
She married fellow actor John Alderton in 1969, and appeared in the first series of sitcom The Liver Birds. However, she became a household name as a regular in the popular Upstairs Downstairs, in 1971.
But it was her role as Shirley Valentine in the eponymous movie that made her a global star, with her portrayal of the bored Liverpudlian housewife who embarked on a holiday romance earning her an Oscar nomination. She had first played the role in the 1988 West End production at the Vaudeville Theatre, winning an Olivier Award for best actress.
Her family went on: “Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. A bright, sparky, witty presence on stage and screen.
“Her illustrious career saw her play politicians, mothers and queens. She will always be remembered as the iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise 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.”
“More than anything, though, she was our loving mum, our wonderful grandma and great-grandma,” they added. “Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us. And she was John’s life-long love. A partner, work collaborator, and wife of 56 years.”
The statement ended saying: “We particularly want to thank her carers: angels who looked after her with dignity, compassion, and most of all love. She could not have had a more peaceful goodbye. We hope you will remember her at the height of her powers, so joyful and full of energy; and give us the space and privacy to contemplate a life without her.”
Alderton said: “Pauline Collins was a remarkable star. I had the great good fortune to have worked with her more than any other actor in our many TV series, films and West End stage shows together, and watched her genius at close quarters.
“What I saw was not only her brilliant range of diverse characters but her magic of bringing out the best in all of the people she worked with. She wanted everyone to be special and she did this by never saying ‘Look at me’. It’s no wonder that she was voted the nation’s sweetheart in the 1970s.
“She will always be remembered for Shirley Valentine, not only for her Oscar nomination or the film itself, but for clean-sweeping all seven awards when she portrayed her on Broadway in the stage play, in which she played every character herself.
“But her greatest performance was as my wife and mother to our beautiful children.”
She also won great acclaim for her role in 1997 film Paradise Road, which tells the story of a group of women in a Japanese prisoner of war camp who defy their captors by founding an orchestra.
The actor also appeared alongside Patrick Swayze in 1992’s City Of Joy and in 2001, was made an OBE for her services to drama.
In 2012, she starred in Dustin Hoffman’s comedy Quartet, alongside Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Tom Courtenay and Sir Billy Connolly, with her final film role coming alongside Dame Joan Collins in 2017’s The Time Of Their Lives, which follows a retired actress and her friend as they travel from London to France for an ex-lover’s funeral.
The actress’s family said that anyone wishing to donate in her memory can make a donation to Parkinson’s UK via their website.