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Pauline Collins, best known for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has died at the eighty-five years old.

Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, in the company of her loved ones after battling Parkinson's for several 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, based on the celebrated stage play by playwright Willy Russell.

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

'Witty Presence'

Her relatives released a statement saying: "Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on stage and screen. Her distinguished work saw her play politicians, mothers and queens."

"She will always be remembered 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 "loving mum, our beloved grandmother and great-grandma", and her husband John Alderton's "eternal partner"

"Kind, humorous, giving, considerate, intelligent, she was constantly supportive," they expressed, thanking her caregivers, who cared for her with "respect, empathy, and above all affection"

"She could not have had a calmer departure. We hope you will remember her at the height of her powers; so joyful and full of energy; and allow us privacy to contemplate a life without her"

Broadway Role

She initially performed 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.

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

The movie adaptation was released later that year.

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

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

Her passion for theater inspired her to pursue acting on a side basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a medical attendant in the Emergency Ward 10.

She featured in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, portraying an imaginary performer 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 show The Liver Birds.

It was through acting that she encountered her spouse John Alderton. They wed in 1969 and had a family of three, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.

Alderton and Collins starred together in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she portrayed a servant in the acclaimed ITV program.