Dame Joan Plowright, Oscar Nominee and Widow of Laurence Olivier, Dies at 95

Mar. 15, 2025

Joan Plowright in September 1989.Photo:Ted Blackbrow/Daily Mail/Shutterstock

Ted Blackbrow/Daily Mail/Shutterstock

British acting legend Dame Joan Plowright has died at 95.

Plowright was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1929. She began appearing in dramas as a teenager, and she won a scholarship to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She eventually began appearing on the London stage, and was a frequent actress at the Royal Court.

Plowright made her film debut in 1960’sThe Entertainer, the screen adaptation of the play, but for the next three decades her work focused mainly on the theater. Her stage roles — many of them at Olivier’s National Theatre — includedMuch Ado about Nothing,Three Sisters,Love’s Labour’s Lost,The Merchant of Venice,The Taming of the Shrew,The SeagullandWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Joan Plowright and Laurence Olivier in 1961.Pat Candido/NY Daily News Archive/Getty

Pat Candido/NY Daily News Archive/Getty

In 1978, she won an Olivier Award (named after her husband) for her role inFilumena. She also worked on Broadway, and in 1961, she won the Tony Award for best actress in a play forA Taste of Honey. She was known for speaking her mind; a 1960New York Timesarticle repeatedly called her “outspoken.”

“I do not have to do anything I don’t want to do,” she told the outlet. “Some years ago, I was asked to sign a seven-year movie contract. I did not want it, because it could have kept me off the stage.”

Plowright shared three children with Olivier: Richard, born in 1961, Tamsin, born in 1963, and Julie-Kate, born in 1966. All three followed their parents into the dramatic arts, with Richard becoming a director and Tamsin and Julie-Kate working as actresses. Plowright toldThe Guardianof her famous husband, “I loved him so much I would have died for him, but there were times when I didn’t know how to live with him.”

Jeremy Brett and Joan Plowright in ‘Rosmersholm’ in 1973.Leonard Burt/Central Press/Getty

Leonard Burt/Central Press/Getty

Olivier died in 1989. “Larry had a huge relish for life and an enjoyment of life,” Plowright told PEOPLE in 2000. “He was over-the-top."

The Guardianwrote in 2019 that Plowright had “the ability to combine down-to-earth practicality and common sense with an irrepressible joie de vivre. . . .  Looking back over her rich career is to be reminded of how much she has been a force for change in British acting.”

Walter Matthau and Joan Plowright in the 1993 film ‘Dennis The Menace’.Universal/Getty

Universal/Getty

Other film roles included 1993’sDennis the Menace, 1995’sThe Scarlet Letter, 1996’s101 Dalmatiansand 1999’sTea with Mussolini. Her 2000s films includedDinosaur,Bringing Down the HouseandThe Spiderwick Chronicles. In 2001, she released a memoir,And That’s Not All.

Reflecting on her less-serious movies roles — many of them in children’s films — she told theLos Angeles Timesin 1996, “When you get such interesting and amusing film roles, it doesn’t seem dreadfully exciting to be in the 257th revival of [the 19th century play]The Rivals. And it’s fun setting off all over the world — and being extremely well-paid.”

Plowright suffered from macular degeneration, which impacted her vision beginning in the 2000s. She retired in 2014, after she was declared legally blind.

Joan Plowright in 1997.Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

Plowright was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004, and she was good friends with fellow DamesMaggie Smith,Judi Denchand Eileen Atkins. Together, they all appeared in 2018’sTea with the Dames, a documentary in which they discussed their lives and careers.

Plowright reflected on her marriage to Olivier (with whom her fellow Dames had also worked) in the documentary. Of their marriage, she said, “It was momentous, earth-shattering for me . . . a very, very strange experience. . . . It was a great privilege to share in his life, as well as a bit of a nightmare.”

Joan Plowright after she was made a Dame in 2004.Stefan Rousseau/AFP/Getty

Stefan Rousseau/AFP/Getty

“She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories,” the family statement continued on Friday, reported the BBC.

“We are so proud of all Joan did and who she was as a loving and deeply inclusive human being. She survived her many challenges with Plowright grit and courageous determination to make the best of them, and that she certainly did."

“Rest in peace, Joan.”

source: people.com