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

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

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

Her praised acting won her the Golden Globe for best actress as well as a BAFTA award.

'Sparkling Personality'

Her relatives released a statement saying: "She was a multifaceted person 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."

"Her memory will endure as the iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise Shirley Valentine - a part she completely owned. We knew all those parts of her because her charm was embedded in each one of them."

They added she was their "loving mum, our wonderful grandma and great-grandma", and her husband John Alderton's "life-long love"

"Kind, humorous, giving, considerate, intelligent, she was always there for us," they said, thanking her caregivers, who cared for her with "respect, empathy, and above all affection"

"She could not have had a calmer departure. We ask that you recall her at the peak of her career; so joyful and full of energy; and allow us privacy to contemplate a life without her"

New York Theater

Collins first played the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theater in the UK capital in 1988. She received that year's Olivier award for best actress.

A year later she reprised the role on the New York stage, where she picked up numerous prizes including a prestigious Tony award.

The movie adaptation 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.

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

Her love of the stage led her to take up 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 Liver Birds.

Her acting career that she met her husband John Alderton. They married 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.