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The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her role in the film Shirley Valentine, has died at the eighty-five years old.

Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, surrounded by her family after living with Parkinson's disease for a number of years, as stated by her relatives.

Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in Lewis Gilbert's award-winning motion picture, adapted from the acclaimed stage play by playwright Willy Russell.

Her critically acclaimed performance won her the Golden Globe Award for best actress as well as a BAFTA award.

'Witty Presence'

Collins' family said in a statement: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, portraying diverse characters in her life. 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 were familiar with all those aspects of her personality because her charm was embedded in every single role."

The statement continued she was their "devoted mother, our wonderful grandma and great-grandmother", and her husband John Alderton's "life-long love"

"Kind, humorous, giving, considerate, intelligent, she was always there for us," they said, appreciating her carers, who looked after her with "dignity, compassion, and most of all love"

"She could not have had a more peaceful goodbye. We ask that you recall her at the peak of her career; radiant and energetic; and give us the space and privacy to contemplate a life without her"

Stage Success

She initially performed the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theater in London in 1988. She won that year's Olivier Award for best actress.

The following year she returned to the character on Broadway, New York, where she picked up numerous prizes including a esteemed Tony Award.

The film of the same name was released later that year.

Additional movie roles included the 1991 film City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, shot in Kolkata, which gained her international fame globally.

Born in Exmouth in 1940, she grew up near Liverpool and started out her career 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 nurse 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 land a role 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 together in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in ITV's popular series.