Shirley Valentine Actor Solterin Collins has died aged 85, his family has announced.
He rested peacefully, surrounded by his family at his care home in Highgate, North London, having had Parkinson’s disease for many years, they said.
Collins starred in the first series of the BBC sitcom The Liver Birds but did not become a household name until co-star Shirley Valentine and a Bafta for best actress.
Her family said in a statement on Thursday: “Pauline was many things to many people, playing different roles in her life. Her painful career on stage and screen her politicians, mothers.
“She will always be remembered as the iconic, strong-willed, tough and wise Shirley Valentine – a role she played with all the parts of her because her parts were written in each of them.
“In spite of everything, she was our loving mother, our wonderful grandmother and great-grandmother and grandmother. Warm, kind, kind, was she [Alderton’s] lifelong love. A partner, co-worker and wife of 56 years.
“We want to thank his caretakers: The angels who took care of him with dignity, patience and most of you peacefully.
Collins took on the role of Shirley Valentine in the stage version of West Etture in London and Broadway in New York before appearing in the film contakation alongside Tom Conti.
The actor started on television and after Samantha Briggs appeared on the doctor that in 1967 he was offered another 39 episodes, but turned them down.
In a 2012 interview with the Guardian, Collins said the moment felt “like a prison sentence”. “Maybe it would give a profile early in my career, but then I wouldn’t recognize a lot of things,” he said.
His TV credits also include the UK’s first medical soap, Emergency Ward 10.
Followed by a series that was not, honestly, in which he and Alderton played a couple.
In 2005, Collins starred as Miss Flite in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House. In 2013 he appeared in Quartet, Dustin Hoffman’s directorial venture of a former opera singer diagnosed with dementia.
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In offering the role, Collins told the Guardian at the time: “Surprises. That’s what I love about this business. Even at my age, you can produce [Hoffman] I don’t know me yet. “
Collins’ film credits include City of Happiness with Patrick Swayze, Paradise Road and Mrs. Calticic’s Colon War, in which she appeared with her husband.
Alderton said: “Pauline Collins is an extraordinary star. I have had the good fortune to work with her as any other actor in our TV series, the endation stage reveals her genius in close quarters.
“What I see is not only his bright different characters but his magic that brings out the best in all the people he works with. He wants everyone to be special and he makes it special and he does it without saying: ‘Look at me.’ Look at me. ‘ No wonder she was voted the country’s sweetheart in the 1970s.
“He will always be remembered for Shirley Valentine, not only for his Oscar nomination or the film itself, but for the clean awards of the area that he strengthened in the stage play.
“But her greatest performance is as my wife and mother of our beautiful children.”