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The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, best known for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has died at the age of 85.

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 relatives.

Collins will be best remembered for her portrayal of disgruntled housewife Shirley in the director's acclaimed film, adapted from the celebrated stage play by Willy Russell.

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

'Charming and Witty'

Her relatives said in a statement: "Pauline was so many things to countless individuals, portraying diverse characters in her career. A bright, sparky, witty presence on stage and screen. Her distinguished work 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 aspects of her personality because her charm was embedded in each one of them."

They added she was their "devoted mother, 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 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 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 the UK capital in 1988. She won that year's Olivier Award for best actress.

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

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

Her other films included 1991's City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, 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 teacher.

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 nurse 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.

Following several theater parts, she employed her regional dialect to land a role on The Liver Birds.

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

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