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The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, best known for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has died at the eighty-five years old.

Her passing was peaceful in her London residence, surrounded by her family after living with Parkinson's disease for several years, according to her relatives.

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

Her critically acclaimed performance also earned her the Golden Globe for best actress along with a BAFTA award.

'Witty Presence'

Her relatives 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 part she completely owned. We were familiar with all those parts of her because her charm was embedded in each one of them."

They added she was their "loving mum, our beloved grandmother and great-grandma", and actor John Alderton's "life-long love"

"Kind, humorous, giving, considerate, intelligent, she was constantly supportive," they expressed, thanking her carers, who cared for her with "dignity, compassion, and most of all love"

"She could not have had a calmer departure. We ask that you recall her at the height of her powers; radiant and energetic; 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 Theatre in London in 1988. She received that year's Olivier award for best actress.

The following year she reprised the role on Broadway, New York, where she earned several awards including a prestigious Tony award.

The film of the same name was launched shortly after.

Additional movie roles included 1991's 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 the city of 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 appeared briefly as a medical attendant in the Emergency Ward 10.

She featured in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, playing a fictional dancer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theater.

After a number of stage roles, she employed her regional dialect to secure a part on The Liver Birds.

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

Alderton and Collins starred together in a number of television and film roles, such as the series Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in ITV's popular series.