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Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the age of 85.

Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, surrounded by her loved ones after battling Parkinson's for several years, as stated by her relatives.

Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in Lewis Gilbert's acclaimed film, based on the acclaimed theatrical production by Willy Russell.

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

'Sparkling Personality'

Her relatives released a statement saying: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles 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 legendary, determined, lively, and insightful Shirley Valentine - a role that she made all her own. We knew all those parts of her because her magic was contained in each one of them."

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

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was always there for us," they expressed, 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; radiant and energetic; and allow us privacy to contemplate a life without her"

Broadway Role

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

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

The film of the same name was launched shortly after.

Her other films included 1991's City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, which brought her wider recognition worldwide.

Born in Exmouth in 1940, she grew up near the city of 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 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 secure a part on the show The Liver Birds.

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

The couple performed together in a variety of screen projects, such as the series Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in the acclaimed ITV program.