Adorable, saucer-eyed British actress Pauline Collins (Upstairs, Downstairs, Shirley Valentine) died on Nov. 5. She was 85. Collins was already a rising young actress (Doctor Who, The Liver Birds) when cast as mischievous maid Sarah on Upstairs, Downstairs (the best British series ever, and I will hear no arguments) and she stole the show. She and her husband/costar John Alderton left for an unsuccessful spin-off, Thomas and Sarah, then costarred in the delightful Wodehouse Playhouse series. Her next big hit was in the play (West End and Broadway) Shirley Valentine, which became a 1989 movie. After that, Collins settled in as one of Britain’s many talented character actresses, working steadily through the 2010s (Bleak House, Mount Pleasant, Dickensian, etc.). On leaving the hit Upstairs, Downstairs, Collins said, "I tell you what, we [she and Alderton] have always been movers on. Everybody has to do a series now and stay on for 10 years or whatever. But both of us liked to change after doing one or two." She also turned down a continuing role on Doctor Who: "I thought it was like a prison sentence. Maybe it would have given me a profile early in my career, but then I would have missed so many things."
“That new sensation of the vaudeville” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4QEkjgDalA
