Pauline Collins | |
|---|---|
 Collins in 2012 | |
| Born | (1940-09-03)3 September 1940 (age 85) |
| Alma mater | Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Pauline Collins (born 3 September 1940)[1] is a British actress who first came to prominence portrayingSarah Moffat inUpstairs, Downstairs (1971–1973) and its spin-offThomas & Sarah (1979). In 1992, she published her autobiography,Letter to Louise.[2]
Collins played the title role in the playShirley Valentine for which she won theLaurence Olivier Award for Best Actress, and theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She reprised the role in the1989 film adaptation of the play, winning theBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and receiving a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress. She also starred in the television dramasForever Green (1989–1992) andThe Ambassador (1998–1999). Her other film appearances includeCity of Joy (1992),Paradise Road (1997),Albert Nobbs (2011),Quartet (2012), andThe Time of Their Lives (2017).
Collins was born on 3 September 1940 inExmouth,Devon, the daughter of Mary Honora (née Callanan), a schoolteacher, and William Henry Collins, a school headmaster.[1] She is of Irish extraction, and was brought up as a Catholic inWallasey, Cheshire.[3] Her great-uncle was Irish poetJeremiah Joseph Callanan.[4]
Collins was educated atSacred 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 atWindsor, Berkshire inA Gazelle in Park Lane in 1962 and herWest End debut inPassion Flower Hotel in 1965. During the play's run, she made her first film, titledSecrets of a Windmill Girl, released in 1966. More stage roles followed.
Collins played Samantha Briggs in the 1967Doctor Who serialThe 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 television credits include the UK's first medical soapEmergency Ward 10 (1960), and the pilot episode and first series ofThe Liver Birds, both in 1969.
Collins first became well known for her role as the maidSarah in the 1970s drama seriesUpstairs, Downstairs. The character appeared regularly throughout the first two series, the second of which starred her actor husbandJohn Alderton, with whom she later starred in the spin-offThomas & Sarah (1979); the sitcomNo, Honestly, written by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham; and a series of short-story adaptations titledWodehouse Playhouse (1975–1978). She co-narrated the animated British children's television seriesLittle Miss with Alderton in 1983.
In connection with her role onUpstairs, 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 programmeThis Is Your Life in April 1972, when she was surprised byEamonn Andrews.
In 1988, Collins starred in the one-woman playShirley Valentine in London, reprising the role on Broadway in 1989 and in the1989 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 asbreaking the fourth wall as the character Shirley Valentine directly addresses the audience throughout the story.
AfterShirley Valentine, Collins starred with her husband in the popular ITV drama seriesForever 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's film credits include 1992'sCity of Joy, 1995'sMy Mother's Courage [de], 1997'sParadise Road, and 2002'sMrs Caldicot's Cabbage War, which also featured Alderton. In 1999 and 2000, Collins starred as Harriet Smith in the BBC television dramaAmbassador. Other television credits includeThe Saint,The Wednesday Play,Armchair Theatre,Play for Today,Tales of the Unexpected,Country Matters, andThe Black Tower.
In 2002, she guest-starred inMan and Boy, the dramatisation ofTony Parsons' best-seller. In 2005, she appeared as Miss Flite in the BBC production ofCharles Dickens'sBleak House.
In 2006, she became the third actor to have been in both the original and new series ofDoctor Who, appearing in the episode "Tooth and Claw" asQueen Victoria.
Later in 2006, she appeared inExtinct, 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 pantomimeCinderella at theOld Vic in London.
In 2011, she was cast as part of the comedy-dramaMount 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 asMrs Gamp in the BBC TV seriesDickensian.
Collins was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire in the2001 Birthday Honours for services to drama.[7][8][9]
Collins married actorJohn Alderton in 1969 and lives inHampstead, London with her husband and their three children Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.[1] She also has an older daughter, Louise, with actorTony 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]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Secrets of a Windmill Girl | Pat Lord | |
| 1989 | Shirley Valentine | Shirley Valentine-Bradshaw | |
| 1992 | City of Joy | Joan Bethel | |
| 1995 | My Mother's Courage | Elsa Tabori | |
| 1997 | Paradise Road | Daisy 'Margaret' Drummond | |
| 2000 | One Life Stand | Karaoke Crowd | |
| 2002 | Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War | Thelma Caldicot | |
| 2009 | From Time to Time | Mrs. Tweedie | |
| 2010 | You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger | Cristal | |
| 2011 | Albert Nobbs | Margaret 'Madge' Baker | |
| 2012 | Quartet | Cissy Robson | |
| 2015 | Dough | Joanna | |
| 2017 | The Time of Their Lives | Priscilla | |
| Byrd and the Bees | Beatrice |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Emergency – Ward 10 | Nurse Elliott | 1 episode |
| 1966 | The Marriage Lines | Jean | Episode: "Big Business" |
| Pardon the Expression | Miss Wainwright / Val | 3 episodes | |
| The Corridor People | Syrie's maid | Episode: "Victim as Black" | |
| Theatre 625 | Clara | Episode: "Amerika" | |
| The Saint | Marie-Therese | Episode: "The Better Mousetrap" | |
| Blackmail | Freida Straker | Episode: "Please Do Not Disturb" | |
| The Three Musketeers | Kitty | 2 episodes | |
| The Making of Jericho | TV film | ||
| 1967 | The Avengers | Miss Peadbody (voice, uncredited)[12] | Episode: "Dead Man's Treasure" |
| Doctor Who | Samantha Briggs | Serial: "The Faceless Ones" | |
| Softly, Softly | Marilyn | Episode: "Somebody Important" | |
| 1968 | B and B | Chantal | Episode: "No Son of Mine" |
| Armchair Theatre | Betty / Mary Murtagh | 2 episodes | |
| 1969 | The Old Campaigner | Winnie Haldane | Episode: "French Farce" |
| Comedy Playhouse | Dawn / Marjorie | 2 episodes | |
| The Liver Birds | Dawn | 5 episodes | |
| The Wednesday Play | Angelina / Joan Percival | 2 episodes | |
| Parkin's Patch | Doreen Ashworth | Episode: "A Pair of Good Shoes" | |
| 1970 | The Mating Machine | Elizabeth | Episode: "Who Sleeps on the Right?" |
| 1972 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | The Girl | Episode: "King's Cross Lunch Hour" |
| Country Matters | Ruby | Episode: "Crippled Bloom" | |
| 1971–1973 | Upstairs, Downstairs | Sarah Moffat | 13 episodes |
| 1973 | Armchair 30 | Carol | Episode: "Carol's Story" |
| 1974 | No, Honestly | Clara Burrell-Danby | 13 episodes |
| 1975 | BBC Play of the Month | Lady Teazle | Episode: "The School for Scandal" |
| 1975–1976 | Wodehouse Playhouse | various characters | 13 episodes |
| 1979 | Thomas & Sarah | Sarah Moffat | |
| Play for Today | Eileen | Episode: "Long Distance Information" | |
| 1980 | Tales of the Unexpected | Pat Lewis | Episode: "A Girl Can't Always Have Everything" |
| 1983 | Little Misses and the Mr. Men | Narrator, various female characters | TV series |
| 1984 | Knockback | Sylvia | TV movie |
| 1985 | Tropical Moon Over Dorking | Myra | |
| The Black Tower | Maggie Hewson | 5 episodes | |
| 1988 | Tales of the Unexpected | Eve Peregrine | Episode: "The Colonel's Lady" |
| 1989–1992 | Forever Green | Harriet Boult | 18 episodes |
| 1996 | Flowers of the Forest | Aileen Matthews | TV movie |
| 1998–1999 | The Ambassador | Harriet Smith | 13 Episodes |
| 2000 | Little Grey Rabbit | TV series | |
| 2002 | Man and Boy | Betty Silver | TV movie |
| 2003 | Sparkling Cyanide | Dr. Catherine Kendall | |
| 2005 | Bleak House | Miss Flite | 10 episodes |
| 2006 | Doctor Who | Queen Victoria | Episode: "Tooth and Claw" |
| What We Did on Our Holiday | Lil Taylor | TV movie | |
| 2010 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Thyrza Grey | Episode: "The Pale Horse" |
| Merlin | Alice | Episode: "Love in the Time of Dragons" | |
| 2011–2012 | Mount Pleasant | Sue | 14 episodes |
| 2015–2016 | Dickensian | Mrs Gamp | 20 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | A Gazelle in Park Lane | Sabiha, an Arab maid-servant | Theatre Royal, Windsor |
| 1966 | Passion Flower Hotel | Lady Janet Wigton | Prince of Wales Theatre |
| 1968 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Cecily Cardew | Theatre Royal, Haymarket |
| 1969 | The Night I Chased the Women with an Eel | Brenda Cooper | Comedy Theatre, London, Chester Gateway Theatre, and other locations |
| 1970 | The Happy Apple | Nancy Gray | Apollo Theatre,Theatre Royal, Brighton, and other locations |
| Come As You Are | New Theatre, London andStrand Theatre, London | ||
| 1974 | Judies | Judy | Comedy Theatre |
| 1975 | Engaged | Minnie Symperson | The Old Vic, London |
| 1975-1976 | Confusions | Theatre Royal, Bath | |
| 1976-1977 | Lucy / Paula / Polly / Milly / Beryl | Apollo Theatre | |
| 1980-1981 | Rattle of a Simple Man | Cyrenne | Savoy Theatre, Theatre Royal, Windsor, and other locations |
| 1983 | Romantic Comedy | Phoebe Craddock | Apollo Theatre |
| 1986-1987 | Woman in Mind | Susan (replacement) | Vaudeville Theatre andRichmond Theatre |
| 1988 | Shirley Valentine | Shirley Valentine | Vaudeville Theatre |
| 1992 | Shades | Pearl | Albery Theatre, Richmond Theatre, London, and other locations |
| 2007-2008 | Cinderella | Fairy Godmother | The Old Vic, London |
| Year | Awards | Category | Nominated works | Results | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Actress | Upstairs, Downstairs /Country Matters /Crippled Bloom | Nominated | [13] |
| 1976 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Actress of the Year in a New Play | Engaged | Nominated | [14] |
| 1984 | CableACE Awards | Best Actress in a Theatrical or Dramatic Special | Knockback | Nominated | |
| 1988 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Actress of the Year in a New Play | Shirley Valentine | Won | [15] |
| 1989 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Won | [16] | |
| Drama League Award | Distinguished Performance Award | Won | [17] | ||
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Won | [16] | ||
| Theatre World Award | Best Actress | Won | [16] | ||
| Tony Awards | Best Actress in a Play | Won | [18] | ||
| 1990 | Academy Awards | Best Actress | Shirley Valentine | Nominated | [19] |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Won | [20] | ||
| Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Actress | Won | |||
| Golden Apple Award | Best Actress | Won | |||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated |
