Pauline Collins

She reprised the role in the 1989 film adaptation of the play, winning a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, an Evening Standard British Film Award, and nominations for both an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for the Best Performance by an Actress - Motion Picture. Collins also starred in the television dramas Forever Green (1989–1992) and The Ambassador (1998–1999). Her other film appearances include City of Joy (1992) and Paradise Road (1997).

Pauline Collins studied at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Sacred Heart High School. The recorded working language is English. Distinctions recorded are Laurence Olivier Awards, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Theatre World Special Award and Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

• Name — Pauline Collins • Birth Name — Pauline Angela Collins • Born — 3 September 1940 • Birthplace — Exmouth, Devon, England • Died — 5 November 2025 • Place of death — Highgate, London, England • Occupation — Actress • Education — Central School of Speech and Drama • Years Active — 1962–2017 • Children — 4

Pauline Angela Collins was born on 3 September 1940 in Exmouth, Devon, the daughter of Mary Honora (née Callanan), a schoolteacher, and William Henry Collins, a school headmaster. She was of Irish descent on both her mother's and father's side, and was brought up as a Catholic in Wallasey, Cheshire. Her great-uncle was the Irish poet Jeremiah Joseph Callanan. Collins was educated at Sacred Heart High School in London and later studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama also in London. Before turning to acting, she worked as a teacher until 1962. She made her stage debut in A Gazelle in Park Lane in 1962 in Windsor, Berkshire, and her West End debut in Passion Flower Hotel in 1965. During the play's run, she made her first film, 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. Collins's other early television 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 Moffat 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 and a series of short-story adaptations titled Wodehouse Playhouse (1975–1976). She co-narrated the animated British children's television 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). She was a subject of the television programme This Is Your Life in April 1972 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

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 both an Oscar as Best Actress, as well as for a Golden Globe Award 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. Collins was voted sexiest woman in Britain in 1990. Collins's film credits included 1992's City of Joy, 1995's My Mother's Courage, 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. Her other later television career 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 appeared in Man and Boy, a television adaptation based on Tony Parsons' bestselling novel. In 2005, she appeared as Miss Flite in the BBC production of Charles Dickens's 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. 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. 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.

Collins married actor John Alderton in 1969; they and their three children lived in Hampstead, London. With actor Tony Rohr, Collins had a daughter, Louise, whom she placed for adoption in 1964. She and Louise were reunited 21 years later. Collins's book, Letter to Louise, documents these events. Later in life, Collins was afflicted with Parkinson's disease. She died on 5 November 2025 at a care home in Highgate, London, aged 85.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1957 — Emergency – Ward 10 — Nurse Elliott — 1 episode • 1966 — The Marriage Lines — Jean — Episode: "Big Business" • Pardon the Expression — Miss Wainwright / Val — 3 episodes • The Saint — Marie-Therese — Episode: "The Better Mousetrap" • Blackmail — Freida Straker — Episode: "Please Do Not Disturb" • 1967 — The Avengers — Miss Peadbody (voice, uncredited) — Episode: "Dead Man's Treasure" • Doctor Who — Samantha Briggs — Serial: "The Faceless Ones" • 1968 — 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 • Parkin's Patch — Doreen Ashworth — Episode: "A Pair of Good Shoes" • 1972 — Country Matters — Ruby — Episode: "Crippled Bloom" • 1971–1973 — Upstairs, Downstairs — Sarah Moffat — 13 episodes • 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" • 1984 — Knockback — Sylvia — TV movie • 1985 — 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 — 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 • 1965-1966 — 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 and Strand 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 and Richmond Theatre • 1988-89 — Shirley Valentine — Shirley Valentine — Vaudeville Theatre Booth Theatre • 1992 — Shades — Pearl — Albery Theatre, Richmond Theatre, London, and other locations • 2007–2008 — Cinderella — Fairy Godmother — The Old Vic, London

Pauline Collins is recorded as actress.