Pauline Collins
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Bibliography
Biography
This lovely British actress with china-blue eyes and a childlike smile is best-known in the USA for her role as the feisty Sarah in the TV series "Upstairs Downstairs," but has since played other widely-praised roles. Raised near Liverpool, Collins was a teacher until 1962, when she began to act part-time. She made her West End debut in "Passion Flower Hotel" in 1965, and spent the next few years building her reputation as a stage actress in many London (and touring) productions.
Collins didn't become an international star until 1970, when she appeared as the charming, saucy maid Sarah in the first season of London Weekend Television's classic "Upstairs Downstairs" (debuting in the US on PBS in 1974). Her ability to switch from boisterous comedy to stark tragedy made her the hit of the series. Collins' husband (since 1969), John Alderton, appeared on that show, and the two were also featured on such British series as "Thomas and Sarah" (an ill- advised "Upstairs Downstairs" spin-off), "Forever Green," the popular "No--Honestly" and the amusingly fey "Wodehouse Playhouse." Sans Alderton, Collins was seen in "Country Matters" (shown on PBS in 1979) and "The Black Tower" (shown on PBS in 1988).
The second blossoming of Collins' career came in 1988 with a starring role in "Shirley Valentine," a one-woman show about a discontented, middle-aged housewife. Winning a Laurence Olivier Award, Collins brought the show to Broadway, where she won several more awards (including a Tony) in 1989. She reprised the role later that same year in the feature version of "Shirley Valentine," which had been expanded from its monologue format. She followed with a co- starring role opposite Patrick Swayze in Roland Jaffe's "City of Joy" (1992) as the operator of a dispensary in Calcutta, India. Collins ventured to Germany to film "My Mother's Courage" (1995, released in the USA in 1997), a concentration camp drama in which she protrayed writer George Tabori's mother. More recently, she was one of the European women detained in a prison camp in Malaysia in Bruce Beresford's "Paradise Road" (1997).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1962
Made stage debut at Windsor in "A Gazelle in Park Lane"
1965
London stage debut, "Passion Flower Hotel"
1971
Landed breakthrough role as the maid Sarah on ITV's "Upstairs, Downstairs"
1979
Reprised role on "Upstairs, Downstairs" spin-off series "Thomas and Sarah" (ITV)
1989
Broadway debut, "Shirley Valentine"; won Tony Award for one-person show
1989
Made feature film debut recreating her stage role in "Shirley Valentine"; received Oscar nomination as Best Actress
1992
Appeared in support of Patrick Swayze in "City of Joy"
1995
Played the real-life mother of writer George Tabori, a Jewish woman who had escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII in "My Mother's Courage"
1997
Played one of the women detained in a Malaysian prison camp opposite Glenn Close and Frances McDormand in "Paradise Road"
2005
Featured in BBC drama miniseries "Bleak House"
2006
Guest starred as Queen Victoria on "Doctor Who" (BBC)
2010
Appeared in Woody Allen directed romantic comedy "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger"
2011
Cast as hotel owner Margaret Baker in "Albert Nobbs," starring Glenn Close
2012
Played a retired opera singer opposite Tom Courtenay, Maggie Smith, and Billy Connolly in "Quartet," Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut
Family
Companions
