British actress
Pauline Collins
OBE
(born 3 September 1940)
[1]
is a British actress who first came to prominence portraying
Sarah Moffat
in
Upstairs, Downstairs
(1971?1973) and its spin-off
Thomas & Sarah
(1979). In 1992, she published her autobiography
Letter to Louise
.
[2]
Collins played the title role in the play
Shirley Valentine
for which she won the
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress
, and the
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
. She reprised the role in the
1989 film adaptation of the play
, winning the
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
and receiving a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Actress
. She also starred in the television dramas
Forever Green
(1989?1992) and
The Ambassador
(1998?1999). Her other film appearances include
City of Joy
(1992),
Paradise Road
(1997),
Albert Nobbs
(2011),
Quartet
(2012), and
The Time of Their Lives
(2017).
Early life and career
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]
Collins was born in Exmouth, Devon, the daughter of Mary Honora (nee Callanan), a schoolteacher, and William Henry Collins, a school headmaster.
[1]
She is of Irish extraction, and was brought up as a Catholic in Wallasey, Cheshire.
[3]
Her great-uncle was Irish poet
Jeremiah Joseph Callanan
.
[4]
Collins was educated at
Sacred Heart High School
and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
[5]
Before turning to acting, she worked as a teacher until 1962. She made her stage debut at
Windsor
in
A Gazelle in Park Lane
in 1962 and her
West End
debut in
Passion Flower Hotel
in 1965. During the play's run, she made her first film, titled
Secrets of a Windmill Girl
, released in 1966. More stage roles followed.
Collins played Samantha Briggs in the 1967
Doctor Who
serial
The Faceless Ones
and was offered the chance to continue in the series as a new companion for the Doctor, but declined the role.
Other early TV credits include the UK's first medical soap
Emergency Ward 10
(1960), and the pilot episode and first series of
The Liver Birds
, both in 1969.
Collins first became well-known for her role as the maid
Sarah
in the 1970s drama series
Upstairs, Downstairs
. The character appeared regularly throughout the first two series, the second of which starred her actor husband
John Alderton
, with whom she later starred in the spin-off
Thomas & Sarah
(1979); the sitcom
No, Honestly
, written by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham; and a series of short-story adaptations titled
Wodehouse Playhouse
(1975?1978). She co-narrated the animated British children's TV series
Little Miss
with Alderton in 1983.
In connection with her role on
Upstairs, Downstairs
, Collins recorded the 1973 single "
What Are We Going to Do with Uncle Arthur?
" (performed by her character several times during the series) backed with "With Every Passing Day" (a vocal version of the show's theme).
[6]
She was a subject of the television programme
This Is Your Life
in April 1972, when she was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews
.
Shirley Valentine
and recent years
[
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In 1988, Collins starred in the one-woman play
Shirley Valentine
in London, reprising the role on Broadway in 1989 and in the
1989 film
version. The film won a number of awards and nominations; Collins was nominated for the Oscar as Best Actress and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Both the play and the feature film used the technique known as
breaking the fourth wall
as the character Shirley Valentine directly addresses the audience throughout the story.
After
Shirley Valentine
, Collins starred with her husband in the popular ITV drama series
Forever Green
, created and written by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham in which the fictitious couple escape the city with their children to start a new life in the country. It ran from 1989 to 1992 over 18 episodes. Collins was voted sexiest woman in Britain in 1990.
Collins' film credits include 1992's
City of Joy
, 1995's
My Mother's Courage
[
de
]
, 1997's
Paradise Road
, and 2002's
Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War
, which also featured Alderton. In 1999 and 2000, Collins starred as Harriet Smith in the BBC television drama
Ambassador
. Other television credits include
The Saint
,
The Wednesday Play
,
Armchair Theatre
,
Play for Today
,
Tales of the Unexpected
,
Country Matters
, and
The Black Tower
.
In 2002, she guest-starred in
Man and Boy
, the dramatisation of
Tony Parsons
' best-seller. In 2005, she appeared as Miss Flite in the BBC production of
Charles Dickens
'
Bleak House
.
In 2006, she became the third actor to have been in both the original and new series of
Doctor Who
, appearing in the episode "
Tooth and Claw
" as
Queen Victoria
.
Later in 2006, she appeared in
Extinct
, a programme where eight celebrities campaigned on behalf of an animal to save it from extinction. Collins campaigned to save the Bengal tiger and won the public vote.
In December 2007, she appeared as the fairy godmother in the pantomime
Cinderella
at the
Old Vic
in London.
In 2011, she was cast as part of the comedy-drama
Mount Pleasant
. She played the role of Sue, Lisa's mother, in the first two series running into 2012. She did not return to the third series in 2013, and her character was killed off in the fourth series in 2014.
In late 2015, she appeared as
Mrs Gamp
in the BBC TV series
Dickensian
.
Collins was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
in the
2001 Birthday Honours
for services to drama.
[7]
[8]
[9]
Personal life
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Collins married actor
John Alderton
in 1969 and lives in Hampstead, London with her husband and their three children Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.
[1]
She also has an older daughter, Louise, with actor
Tony Rohr
. Collins gave Louise up for adoption in 1964 when she was a penniless single mother.
[10]
They were reunited when Louise was 22 years old.
[10]
Collins's book,
Letter To Louise
, documents these events.
[11]
Filmography
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]
Awards and nominations
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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Awards for Pauline Collins
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1976?1984 and 1988
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1985 onwards (except 1988)
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1947?1975
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1976?2000
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2001?present
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International
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National
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Academics
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People
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Other
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