Joan Plowright, an actress who was well-known for her lengthy career in theater and cinema, has passed away at the age of 95, according to an announcement from her family.
Plowright received praise for her performances during the early years of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court and the National Theatre when it was situated at the Old Vic and headed by her second husband, Laurence Olivier.
She and Olivier both featured in the West End and on Broadway in John Osborne’s The Entertainer, and they both starred in the film adaptation. At the National Theatre, she portrayed the part of Portia opposite Olivier’s Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. She also played Masha in Three Sisters, Sonya in Uncle Vanya, and the title character in Shaw’s Saint Joan.
On January 16, 2025, Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, passed away quietly at Denville Hall at the age of 95, surrounded by her family. This was announced in a statement from her family, which read: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on 16 January 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95.”
“She had a long and successful career in theater, film, and television that lasted for seven decades, but she was forced to retire when she lost her vision.”
She loved her final ten years in Sussex, which were full with visits from friends and relatives, as well as laughing and happy memories. The family is very thankful to Jean Wilson and everyone who has been engaged in her personal care for a long time.
On Tuesday at 7 p.m., the Society of London Theatre stated that theaters throughout London’s West End would lower their lights for two minutes in commemoration. Hannah Essex, the co-CEO of the organization, said, “Dame Joan Plowright was an iconic and deeply respected figure in the world of theatre, leaving an indelible mark on the industry she shaped with her talent and dedication.”
Paul Feig, a film director from the United States, was one of the people who paid homage. He said that it was a “unbelievable” honor to collaborate with Plowright on his debut feature picture, I Am David (2003). He said on X, “I was in over my head directing such a legend, but she made it all so easy.” “I was amazed by every take she did and learned a lot from her.”
Plowright was born in Brigg, Lincolnshire on October 28, 1929. He received a scholarship to attend Scunthorpe Grammar School. Daisy Margaret Burton and William Ernest Plowright had three children, and she was the second of the three. Her mother was an amateur performer and opera singer who taught dance. Her father was a journalist who had a fondness for amateur dramatics. At the age of 15, she earned an award for drama at a local theater festival. She has always aspired to be an actress. After leaving school at the age of 17, she worked for a short time as a replacement teacher before attending the Old Vic drama school in London.
She had her theatrical debut in 1948 in Croydon, when she performed in a production called If Four Walls Told. After that, she joined the Old Vic theater company, where she met Roger Gage, an actor who she eventually married. Prior to that, she had appeared in a late-night revue in London. She tried out for the role of Bianca in Orson Welles’s theatrical version of Othello, but she was not chosen. In 1955, Welles recalled her and cast Plowright as Pip, the cabin child, in his West End production of Moby Dick.
In the following year, she joined George Devine’s English Stage Company, and in her biography And That’s Not All, she stated that she “felt for the first time totally at home in a theatre.” “I was in contact with people who shared my passion for creating a theater that was related to the 20th century.” I discovered my own voice as an actor, and I felt a thrilling sense of purpose. William Wycherley’s The Country Wife was her first success at the Royal Court and, over several years, she starred in plays as diverse as Arnold Wesker’s Roots, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara (in the title role) and Eugène Ionesco’s The Chairs and The Lesson, which both transferred to the Phoenix theatre in New York, where her co-star in The Chairs was Eli Wallach.
In 1957, when John Osborne’s The Entertainer was moved to the West End, Plowright replaced Dorothy Tutin in the Royal Court production. It introduced her to Olivier, who was portraying Archie Rice, the father of her character. Archie Rice was a fading music-hall star. He was thrilled with Plowright’s performance in The Country Wife and jokingly gave her the new appellation “Miss Wheelshare.” The Entertainer was also made into a movie, and Plowright subsequently chose a recording of Olivier singing “Why Should I Care?” as Archie Rice for one of her picks on Desert Island Discs. She took the play to Broadway and subsequently won a Tony Award for her performance as Jo, a pregnant adolescent in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey. Angela Lansbury played Jo’s mother in the production.
Olivier and Plowright appeared in a theatrical performance of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros at the Royal Court in 1960. Orson Welles directed the play. Plowright and Gage were divorced that year. After a long period of public attention around their relationship and the conclusion of Olivier’s marriage to Vivien Leigh, Plowright and Olivier were married in 1961.
While Olivier was the director of the National, Plowright played the parts of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder. In 1973, Franco Zeffirelli directed her in Eduardo de Filippo’s family drama Saturday, Sunday, Monday, where, she told the Observer: “I had to cook a ragout live on stage. The delightful scent made people come out during the break looking pleased but extremely hungry, and the sale of sandwiches increased dramatically. In 1977, Zeffirelli directed her again in De Filippo’s Filumena Marturano, and again in 2003, he directed her in the Pirandello adaption Absolutely! (Perhaps). Both productions took place in London.
In 1988, Plowright produced a play called Married Love, which was about Marie Stopes. Then, in 1990, she performed in a production of Time and the Conways, which was directed by her son, Richard Olivier. In this performance, she played alongside her two daughters, Julie-Kate and Tamsin Olivier. Her cinematic career had gained momentum by that point. In Peter Greenaway’s Drowning By Numbers, she portrayed the mother of Joely Richardson and Juliet Stevenson. After that, she had parts in a few other films: an adaptation of Beryl Bainbridge’s The Dressmaker, the quirky comedy I Love You to De.ath, and Enchanted April, which was shot in Portofino on the Italian Riviera. Her performance in Enchanted April earned her an Oscar nomination for playing a domineering widow. The well-known movie Tea With Mussolini took her back to Italy and back to Zeffirelli, where she acted with other famous actresses including Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. She acted as the surrogate mother of a kid who was modeled like Zeffirelli.
In 2013, Plowright returned to her role as Saint Joan for a speech that was delivered at the National Theatre’s 50th birthday celebration. In Roger Michell’s film Nothing Like a Dame, released in 2018, she reflected on her career with Dench, Smith, and Eileen Atkins.
