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

Her passing was peaceful in her London residence, in the company of her family after battling Parkinson's disease for a number of years, as stated by her relatives.

Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of disgruntled housewife Shirley in Lewis Gilbert's award-winning motion picture, adapted from the celebrated theatrical production by playwright Willy Russell.

Her praised acting won her the Golden Globe for best actress along with a Bafta.

'Sparkling Personality'

Collins' family said in a statement: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, portraying diverse characters in her career. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on theater and film. 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."

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

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was constantly supportive," they expressed, thanking her caregivers, 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; so joyful and full of energy; and allow us privacy to reflect on life in her absence"

Stage Success

Collins first played 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.

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

The movie adaptation was released later that year.

Her other films included 1991's City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, shot in Kolkata, which gained her international fame worldwide.

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

Her love of the stage led her to take up acting on a part-time basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a medical attendant in the TV series Emergency Ward 10.

She featured in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, playing a fictional dancer in a London adult entertainment venue, the Windmill Theater.

Following several theater parts, she employed her regional dialect to land a role on The Liver Birds.

It was through acting that she met her husband John Alderton. They married in 1969 and had a family of three, their sons and daughter.

The couple performed together in a variety of screen projects, such as the series Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she portrayed a servant in ITV's popular series.