Collins first played the title role of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in London in 1988. She won that year’s Olivier award for best actress.
The following year she reprised the role on Broadway, New York, where she picked up numerous prizes including a prestigious Tony award.
The film of the same name was released later that year.
Her other films included 1991’s City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, filmed in Calcutta, which brought her wider recognition globally.
Born in Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near Liverpool and started out her career as a teacher.
Her love of the stage led her to take up acting on a part-time basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a nurse in the Emergency Ward 10 TV series.
She starred in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, playing a fictional dancer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theatre.
After a number of stage roles, she used her Liverpool accent to land a role on The Liver Birds.
From 1971 to 1973 she played a maid in the ITV’s popular series Upstairs, Downstairs.
It was through acting that she met husband John Alderton. They married in 1969 and had three adult children, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.
Alderton and Collins starred alongside each other in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs.
