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The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, best known for her role in the movie Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the age of 85.

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

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 Willy Russell.

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

'Charming and Witty'

Collins' family released a statement saying: "Pauline was so many things to countless individuals, portraying diverse characters in her career. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on theater and film. Her illustrious career saw her portray leaders, parents, and royalty."

"She will always be remembered as the iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise Shirley Valentine - a part she completely owned. 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 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 caregivers, 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 peak of her career; radiant and energetic; and allow us privacy to reflect on life in her absence"

New York Theater

She initially performed the lead part of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theater in the UK capital 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 earned several awards including a prestigious Tony award.

The movie adaptation was launched shortly after.

Additional movie roles included the 1991 film City of Joy with actor Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, which gained her international fame worldwide.

A native of Exmouth in 1940, she grew up near Liverpool and began her professional life as a educator.

Her love of the stage inspired her to pursue acting on a part-time basis, and in 1957 she appeared briefly as a nurse in the TV series 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.

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

Her acting career that she encountered her spouse John Alderton. They married in 1969 and had three children, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.

The couple performed together in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she portrayed a servant in ITV's popular series.