A teacher who took up acting part-time, Collins made her West End debut in 1965 and two years later starred in Dr Who.
In 1969 she acted in the first series of the BBC comedy The Liver Birds about the lives and loves of two young women in Liverpool.
In 1971 Collins become a household name through her role in the ITV drama Upstairs Downstairs, about an aristocratic family and their servants in London.
Her actor husband John Alderton was also in the show and the couple starred in a spin-off series Thomas And Sarah.
It was her performance in Shirley Valentine that won Collins plaudits around the world.
She first played the born-and-bred Liverpudlian in a one-woman show in London’s West End in 1988 for which she won an Olivier Award for best actress.
She also earned an Academy Award nomination in 1990 for her performance in the movie adaptation of the play.
Collins won great acclaim for her role in 1997 film Paradise Road, the story of a group of women in a Japanese prisoner of war camp who start an orchestra.
Pauline Collins died November 5 aged 85. — Agencies/Allied Media
