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The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, best known for her role 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 battling Parkinson's for a number of years, according to her family.

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

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

'Charming and Witty'

Collins' family released a statement saying: "She was a multifaceted person to countless individuals, portraying diverse characters in her life. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on theater and film. Her distinguished work 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 magic was contained in each one of them."

They added she was their "devoted mother, our beloved grandmother and great-grandmother", and her husband John Alderton's "eternal partner"

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, 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 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"

Broadway Role

She initially performed the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in the UK capital in 1988. She won that year's Olivier Award for best actress.

The following year she reprised the role on the New York stage, where she earned several awards including a esteemed Tony Award.

The film of the same name was released later that year.

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, Collins was raised near Liverpool and began her professional life as a educator.

Her passion for theater 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 adult entertainment venue, 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 met her husband John Alderton. They married in 1969 and had three children, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.

Alderton and Collins starred together in a variety of screen projects, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in ITV's popular series.