Oscar nominee Dame Joan Plowright has died at the age of 95, her family said today, DailyMail reports.
The British actress, who was married to Lord Laurence Olivier, was known for her Golden Globe award-winning performances in TV biopic Stalin and Enchanted April, for which she was also nominated for an Academy Award.
Brigg-born Dame Joan, Dame Joan Plowright also starred in Love You To Death with River Phoenix, and was a star of the West End and Broadway before her international movie success.
Her wedding to Lord Olivier in 1961 was the sensation of the year, after they met when she was appearing alongside him as his daughter in the play The Entertainer.
Their marriage was an enduring one until the theatre great’s death in 1989 at the age of 82. She became his carer through a series of chronic illnesses, including cancer.
Her family said in a statement: ‘It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on January 16 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95.
‘She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire.
‘She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories. The family are deeply grateful to Jean Wilson and all those involved in her personal care over many years.
One of my favorite videos of Maggie Smith with Judi Dench and Joan Plowright. RIP Maggie
— PATTY (@PattyBourree) September 27, 2024
‘Joan is survived by her loving family: Tamsin and Wilf, Julie-Kate and Dan, Richard, Shelley, Troy, Ali, Jeremy, step-granddaughter and great-granddaughter Kaya and Sophia, and great-granddaughter soon to arrive.
‘The family ask you to please respect their request for privacy at this time.
‘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…’.
Dame Joan Plowright role in the 1991 British comedy Enchanted April won her a Golden Globe for her waspish widow character, and she was also known for 101 Dalmatians in 1996 and Tea With Mussolini in 1999.
She won a second Golden Globe for the TV biopic Stalin in 1993.
In 1961 she won a Tony Award for the role of Jo in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey on Broadway, which saw her star opposite the late Dame Angela Lansbury playing her mother.
Born in Scunthorpe, Dame Joan was educated at the local grammar school before winning a scholarship to the Old Vic Theatre School at the age of 17.
Her first stage appearance was in If Four Walls Told at the Croydon Repertory Theatre in 1948 and she later joined the English Theatre Company at the Royal Court.
She met Lord Olivier in 1957 when he was still married to Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh, and they fell in love while co-starring in the stage version of John Osborne’s The Entertainer.
Dame Joan Plowright received a damehood in the 2004 new year honours.
But she announced she was retiring from acting in 2014, after her losing her eyesight due to macular degeneration and becoming registered as blind.
In 2021, her friend and contemporary Dame Judi Dench spoke about having the same condition.
Prior to that, in 2014, Dame Joan took part in the documentary film Nothing Like A Dame, alongside Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Judi and Dame Maggie Smith, which saw them discuss their careers and lives.
Dame Joan also appeared in a viral video alongside Dame Judi and Dame Maggie that was reshared following the latter’s death in September last year.
The clip from Tea With The Dames, a 2018 AMC Theatres documentary, saw Dame Joan and Dame Maggie team up to tease Dame Judi.
In the footage, the trio are asked if they will work forever, to which Dame Judi replies: ‘We’re going to work forever if we’re asked.’
Dame Maggie then quips: ‘But you’re always asked first, if I may say so.’
Dame Judi jokingly accuses Dame Maggie of ‘turning’ on her and she cheekily replies ‘I’m turning on you. It’s all coming out now.’
Dame Joan then chimed in and admits she does not know what they are talking about because her hearing aid stopped working. Maggie then asks: ‘Do you want one of mine?’, making them all laugh.
After Dame Joan is brought back up to speed, she shares an anecdote, saying: ‘Oh yeah, I tell you. My agent in America said to me one day, when they knew I couldn’t do very much because of the eyesight going.
‘And he said, ‘Well, if you do want to come over again, we’ll look around for a nice little cameo that Judi Dench hasn’t got her paws on.’
Dame Judi calls them both ‘rude’ but they all laugh as they tell her, ‘Well in America darling, that’s how they talk.’
Denville Hall, where Dame Joan died, is a retirement home for former actors and other members of the entertainment industry located in Northwood, West London.