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Pauline Collins, best known for her role in the film Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the eighty-five years old.

She died peacefully in her London care home, in the company of her family after living with Parkinson's disease for a number of years, as stated by her family.

Collins will be best remembered for her portrayal of disgruntled housewife Shirley in the director's award-winning motion picture, based on the celebrated stage play by playwright Willy Russell.

Her praised acting also earned her the Golden Globe Award for best actress as well as a Bafta.

'Sparkling Personality'

Her relatives released a statement saying: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, portraying diverse characters in her career. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on stage and screen. Her distinguished work saw her play politicians, mothers and queens."

"Her memory will endure as the iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise 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 each one of them."

The statement continued she was their "loving mum, our wonderful grandma and great-grandmother", and her husband John Alderton's "eternal partner"

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us," they said, thanking her carers, who looked after her with "dignity, compassion, and most of all love"

"She experienced a more peaceful goodbye. We ask that you recall her at the height of her powers; so joyful and full of energy; and allow us privacy to contemplate a life without her"

New York Theater

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

A year later she returned to the character on Broadway, New York, where she earned several awards including a esteemed 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, shot in Kolkata, which brought her wider recognition globally.

A native of Exmouth in 1940, she grew up near Liverpool and started out her career as a educator.

Her passion for theater led her to take up acting on a part-time 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, playing a fictional dancer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theater.

Following several theater parts, she used her Liverpool accent to secure a part on The Liver Birds.

It was through acting that she encountered her spouse John Alderton. They wed in 1969 and had a family of three, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.

Alderton and Collins starred alongside each other in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in the acclaimed ITV program.