Pauline Collins
Encyclopedia
Pauline Collins, OBE
(born 3 September 1940) is an English
actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat
in Upstairs, Downstairs
and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah
during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine
for which she received Laurence Olivier, Tony
, and Drama Desk
awards. She reprised the role in a 1989 film adaptation, winning a BAFTA and garnering Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.
. She is of Irish
extraction, and was brought up as a Roman Catholic near Liverpool
.Pauline, Collins. (1999-03-28). "Pauline Collins - My secret for a good marriage? Give", Interviewed by Sharon Feinstein, Sunday Mirror
. Retrieved on 2010-05-13. "But I was very worried about taking it on because I'm not Jewish. I'm a Liverpool Irish Catholic and this role was such a responsibility because it involved a huge and emotive part of the history of the Jewish race." Collins studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama
in London. 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, and many stage roles followed. Her first film was Secrets of a Windmill Girl (1966).
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 invitation.
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 ITV
drama series Upstairs, Downstairs
. The character appeared regularly throughout the first two series, the second of which also starred her actor husband, John Alderton, with whom she later starred in a spin-off
, Thomas & Sarah
(1979), and the sitcom No, Honestly
, as well as in a series of short story adaptations called Wodehouse Playhouse
(1975–78). She co-narrated the animated British children's TV series Little Miss
with husband John Alderton
in 1983.
In connection with her Upstairs, Downstairs role, Collins recorded a 1973 single for Decca: What Are We Going to Do With Uncle Arthur? (performed by her character several times during the series) b/w With Every Passing Day (a vocal version of the show's theme).
in London, reprising the role on Broadway in 1989 and in the 1989 film
version. The film won a number of awards, which are outlined below.
After Shirley Valentine, Collins again starred alongside her husband in the popular ITV drama series Forever Green
in which the 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' film credits include City of Joy
(1992, co-starring Patrick Swayze
), My Mother's Courage (1995 in Germany as Mutters Courage, released in the USA in 1997), Paradise Road (1997, with Glenn Close
and Cate Blanchett
), and Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War (2001), another appearance with Alderton. In 1999 and 2000, Collins starred as Harriet Smith in the BBC television drama Ambassador
, where she played the lead role of the British ambassador to Ireland
. 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 only 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
Collins was awarded the OBE in 2001.
John Alderton
in 1969 and lives in Hampstead
, London
, England
, with her husband and their three children, Nicholas, Kate and Richard. She also has an older daughter, Louise, whom she gave up for adoption. The pair were reunited when Louise was 22 years old, and Collins wrote a book, Letter to Louise, about her experiences.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 3 September 1940) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat
Sarah Moffat
Sarah Moffat , also known as Sarah Delice and Clémence Dumas, is a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah...
in Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah
Thomas & Sarah
Thomas & Sarah is a British drama series that aired on ITV in 1979. The only spin-off from the BAFTA Award-winning series Upstairs, Downstairs, it stars John Alderton and Pauline Collins reprising their Upstairs, Downstairs roles.-Background:...
during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine
Shirley Valentine
Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.-Plot:...
for which she received Laurence Olivier, Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, and Drama Desk
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
awards. She reprised the role in a 1989 film adaptation, winning a BAFTA and garnering Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.
Early life and career
Collins was born in Exmouth, DevonExmouth, Devon
Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort in East Devon, England, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe. In 2001, it had a population of 32,972.-History:...
. She is of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
extraction, and was brought up as a Roman Catholic near Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.Pauline, Collins. (1999-03-28). "Pauline Collins - My secret for a good marriage? Give", Interviewed by Sharon Feinstein, Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...
. Retrieved on 2010-05-13. "But I was very worried about taking it on because I'm not Jewish. I'm a Liverpool Irish Catholic and this role was such a responsibility because it involved a huge and emotive part of the history of the Jewish race." Collins studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
in London. Before turning to acting, she worked as a teacher until 1962. She made her stage debut at Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
in A Gazelle in Park Lane in 1962 and her West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
debut in Passion Flower Hotel
Passion Flower Hotel
The Passion Flower Hotel is a novel by Rosalind Erskine . It was published by Pan Books in 1962. The story concerns a young girl going to an English girls' boarding school. In the dormitory, the girls discuss losing their virginity and decide that the best way is to set up a "service" for the local...
in 1965, and many stage roles followed. Her first film was Secrets of a Windmill Girl (1966).
Collins played Samantha Briggs in the 1967 Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial The Faceless Ones
The Faceless Ones
The Faceless Ones is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from April 8 to May 13, 1967. The story concerns a race of identity-stealing aliens known as the Chameleons...
and was offered the chance to continue in the series as a new companion for the Doctor, but declined the invitation.
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
The Liver Birds
The Liver Birds is a British situation comedy, set in Liverpool, Merseyside, North-West of England, which aired on BBC1 from 1969 to 1978, and again in 1996. It was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpool housewives had met at a local writers club and decided to pool their talents...
, both in 1969.
Collins first became well known for her role as the maid Sarah
Sarah Moffat
Sarah Moffat , also known as Sarah Delice and Clémence Dumas, is a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah...
in the 1970s ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
drama series Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
. The character appeared regularly throughout the first two series, the second of which also starred her actor husband, John Alderton, with whom she later starred in a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
, Thomas & Sarah
Thomas & Sarah
Thomas & Sarah is a British drama series that aired on ITV in 1979. The only spin-off from the BAFTA Award-winning series Upstairs, Downstairs, it stars John Alderton and Pauline Collins reprising their Upstairs, Downstairs roles.-Background:...
(1979), and the sitcom No, Honestly
No, Honestly
No, Honestly is a British sitcom that was originally produced in 1974. No, Honestly featured the real-life married couple of Pauline Collins and John Alderton respectively as Clara and Charles Danby , a newlywed couple living in London....
, as well as in a series of short story adaptations called Wodehouse Playhouse
Wodehouse Playhouse
Wodehouse Playhouse is a British television comedy series based on the short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. From 1975 to 1978, three series were made, with twenty half-hour episodes altogether in the entire series.-Overview:P. G...
(1975–78). She co-narrated the animated British children's TV series Little Miss
Little Miss
"Little Miss" is the title of a song written by Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, of the country music duo Sugarland. The song was released in November 2010 as the second single from their fourth studio album, The Incredible Machine. Before the albums release, the song charted on the Billboard...
with husband John Alderton
John Alderton
John Alderton is an English actor who is best known for his roles in Upstairs, Downstairs, Thomas & Sarah and Please Sir!. Alderton has often starred alongside his wife, Pauline Collins.-Early life:...
in 1983.
In connection with her Upstairs, Downstairs role, Collins recorded a 1973 single for Decca: What Are We Going to Do With Uncle Arthur? (performed by her character several times during the series) b/w With Every Passing Day (a vocal version of the show's theme).
Shirley Valentine and recent years
In 1988, Collins starred in the one-woman play Shirley ValentineShirley Valentine
Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.-Plot:...
in London, reprising the role on Broadway in 1989 and in the 1989 film
Shirley Valentine (film)
Shirley Valentine is a 1989 British/American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay by Willy Russell is based on his 1986 one-character play of the same title.-Plot:...
version. The film won a number of awards, which are outlined below.
After Shirley Valentine, Collins again starred alongside her husband in the popular ITV drama series Forever Green
Forever Green
Forever Green is a television programme originally broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1992. It was made for London Weekend Television by Picture Partnership Productions, now named Carnival Films.-Cast:*Pauline Collins - Harriet Boult...
in which the 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' film credits include City of Joy
City of Joy (film)
City of Joy is a 1992 film directed by Roland Joffé, with a screenplay by Mark Medoff. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Dominique Lapierre.-Plot:...
(1992, co-starring Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest...
), My Mother's Courage (1995 in Germany as Mutters Courage, released in the USA in 1997), Paradise Road (1997, with Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
and Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
), and Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War (2001), another appearance with Alderton. In 1999 and 2000, Collins starred as Harriet Smith in the BBC television drama Ambassador
Ambassador (TV series)
The Ambassador is a British television drama series produced by the BBC written by Hugh Costello.The series starred Pauline Collins in the title role as Harriet Smith, the new British ambassador to Ireland and dealt with the personal and professional pressures in Harriet's life, as well as wider...
, where she played the lead role of the British ambassador to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Other television credits include The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
, Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
, Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
, Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)
Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales...
, Country Matters, and The Black Tower.
In 2002, she guest starred in Man and Boy
Man and Boy
Man and Boy is a play by Terence Rattigan.It was first performed at The Queen's Theatre, London, and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, in 1963. It was poorly received, but revived in 2005 at the Duchess Theatre, London, with David Suchet as the lead part, Gregor Antonescu, to great acclaim...
, the dramatisation of Tony Parsons
Tony Parsons (British journalist)
Tony Parsons is a British journalist broadcaster and author. He began his career as a music journalist on the NME, writing about punk music. Later, he wrote for The Daily Telegraph, before going on to write his current column for the Daily Mirror...
' best-seller. In 2005 she appeared as Miss Flite in the BBC production of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' Bleak House.
In 2006, she became only the third actor to have been in both the original and new series of Doctor Who, appearing in the episode "Tooth and Claw
Tooth and Claw (Doctor Who)
"Tooth and Claw" is the second episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and was first broadcast on 22 April 2006. In 1879 Scotland, the Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria...
" as Queen Victoria.
Later in 2006, she appeared in Extinct
Extinct (TV series)
Extinct is a British television series that aired on ITV in 2006. It features eight celebrities highlighting the plight of some of the world's most endangered species and was presented by Zoë Ball and Sir Trevor McDonald....
, a programme where eight celebrities campaigned on behalf of an animal to save it from extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. Collins campaigned to save the Bengal tiger
Bengal Tiger
The Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...
and won the public vote.
In December 2007, she appeared as the fairy godmother
Fairy godmother
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies...
in the pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
, Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
, at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Collins was awarded the OBE in 2001.
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior... |
1967 | Samantha Briggs | |
| 1969 | Dawn | ||
| Upstairs, Downstairs Upstairs, Downstairs Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a... |
1971 | Sarah Moffat Sarah Moffat Sarah Moffat , also known as Sarah Delice and Clémence Dumas, is a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah... |
|
| Wodehouse Playhouse Wodehouse Playhouse Wodehouse Playhouse is a British television comedy series based on the short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. From 1975 to 1978, three series were made, with twenty half-hour episodes altogether in the entire series.-Overview:P. G... |
1975 | various | |
| Thomas & Sarah Thomas & Sarah Thomas & Sarah is a British drama series that aired on ITV in 1979. The only spin-off from the BAFTA Award-winning series Upstairs, Downstairs, it stars John Alderton and Pauline Collins reprising their Upstairs, Downstairs roles.-Background:... |
1979 | Sarah Moffat Sarah Moffat Sarah Moffat , also known as Sarah Delice and Clémence Dumas, is a fictional character in the ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah... |
|
| Tales of the Unexpected Tales of the Unexpected Tales of the Unexpected may refer to:*Tales of the Unexpected , a 1950s-1960s comic book*Tales of the Unexpected , a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl... |
1980 | Pat Lewis | |
| Forever Green Forever Green Forever Green is a television programme originally broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1992. It was made for London Weekend Television by Picture Partnership Productions, now named Carnival Films.-Cast:*Pauline Collins - Harriet Boult... |
1989 | Harriet Boult | |
| Shirley Valentine Shirley Valentine Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.-Plot:... |
1989 | Shirley Valentine-Bradshaw | |
| City of Joy City of Joy (film) City of Joy is a 1992 film directed by Roland Joffé, with a screenplay by Mark Medoff. It is based upon the novel of the same name by Dominique Lapierre.-Plot:... |
1992 | Joan Bethel | |
| Paradise Road | 1997 | Daisy 'Margaret' Drummond | |
| Bleak House | 2005 | Maud Havisham Flite | |
| Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior... |
2006 | Queen Victoria | |
| Agatha Christie's Marple | 2010 | Thyrza Grey | |
| Merlin Merlin (TV series) Merlin is a British fantasy-adventure television programme by Julian Jones, Jake Michie, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. It began broadcasting on BBC One on 20 September 2008. The show is based on the Arthurian legends of the wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur but differs from... |
2010 | Alice | |
| You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a 2010 English-language Spanish-American co-production comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It features Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Roger Ashton-Griffiths and Pauline... |
2010 | Cristal |
Personal life
She married actorActor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
John Alderton
John Alderton
John Alderton is an English actor who is best known for his roles in Upstairs, Downstairs, Thomas & Sarah and Please Sir!. Alderton has often starred alongside his wife, Pauline Collins.-Early life:...
in 1969 and lives in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with her husband and their three children, Nicholas, Kate and Richard. She also has an older daughter, Louise, whom she gave up for adoption. The pair 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 AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Actress in a Play (winner) - Theatre World AwardTheatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
for Outstanding Broadway Debut (winner) - Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Actress in a Play (winner) - Outer Critics Circle AwardOuter Critics Circle AwardThe Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
for Best Actress (winner) - Academy Award for Best ActressAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(nominee) - Golden Globe AwardGolden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Actress, Comedy or Musical (nominee) - BAFTA for Best Film Actress (winner)