Pauline Alderton, OBE

Pauline Collins, OBE (born 3 September 1940) is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first became know portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s.

She later played the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which she received Laurence Olivier, Tony, and Drama Desk awards. She won a BAFTA and had Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for the 1989 film adaptation of Shirley Valentine.

Pauline was born in Exmouth, Devon, the daughter of Mary Honora (née Callanan), a schoolteacher, and William Henry Collins, a school headmaster. She is of Irish extraction, and was brought up as a Roman Catholic near Liverpool. She was educated at Sacred Heart High School and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Before becoming an actress she was 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 this run her first film Secrets of a Windmill Girl -1966). More stage roles followed.

She married actor John Alderton in 1969 and lives in Hampstead, London, with her husband and their three children, Nicholas, Kate and Richard. She also has an older daughter with actor Tony Rohr, Louise, whom she gave up for adoption. They were reunited when Louise was 22 years old, and Collins wrote a book, Letter to Louise, about her experiences.

Awards and nominations

• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (winner)
• Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut (winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play (winner)
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (winner)
• Academy Award for Best Actress (nominee)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, Comedy or Musical (nominee)
• BAFTA for Best Film Actress (winner)

Pauline Collins is related to Irish Poet Jeremiah Joseph Callanan who was her mother's granduncle. The link has not yet been established

References and Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Collins
• http://www.filmreference.com/film/78/Pauline-Collins.html
• http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/694000/Pauline-Collins/biography
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1627565.stm