Acting legend dies at 95

Dame Joan Plowright, one of Britain’s most famous stage and film stars and widow of Sir Laurence Olivier, has died at the age of 95.

Her career spanned 60 years and included an Academy Award nomination for 1991’s Enchanted April.

She married Olivier in 1961 after playing his daughter opposite him in The Entertainer, and became a prominent member of the National Theater he founded.

Her family said in a statement that they were “so proud of everything Joan did and who she was as a very loving and inclusive person.”

Her family said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Mrs. Joan Plowright, Mrs. Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on 16 January 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall at the age of 95.

“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career in theatre, film and television over seven decades until blindness forced her to retire.

“She cherished her last ten years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with lots of laughter and fond memories.”

They added: “She survived many of the challenges she faced with Plowright’s grit and fearless determination to make the most of them, which she certainly did.

“Rest in peace, Joan…”

Born in Scunthorpe, Plowright became a leading lady in London’s West End in the 1950s, making her debut opposite Olivier in John Osborne’s The Entertainer at the Royal Court in 1957.

He was still married to Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh at the time, and Plowright was married to her first husband, Roger Gage.

Plowright and Olivier fell in love, and their acting partnership led to them being nominated for a BAFTA Award for the film version of The Entertainer, released in 1960.

That year, Plowright also had a hit in the United States in the Broadway play A Taste of Honey, winning a Tony Award for her performance.

Her other awards included the West End Theater Society Award – later renamed the Olivier Awards after her husband – in 1978 for Philomena.

She received another BAFTA Award nomination in the same year for her performance in the film version of Equus alongside Richard Burton.

In 2014, she retired from the stage after she lost her sight and was registered as blind.

Dame Joan was one of a generation of great actresses, and in recent years she has been seen reminiscing and enjoying co-starring with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkins in The 2018 BBC documentary Nothing Like Mrs.

In a clip from the show, which has gone viral online, a slightly sarcastic Dame Maggie is seen telling Dame Judy that she is “always asked first” when offered acting roles.

Ms. Joan initially missed the exchange because one of her hearing aids fell out, but then joined in on the joke, also telling a similar story. The deceased then offered her a spare hearing aid Lady Maggie, who died in September 2024.