Joan Plowright, award-winning British actress and widow of Laurence Olivier, died. She was 95 years old.
“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career in theatre, film and television over seven decades until blindness forced her retirement,” Plowright’s family said in a statement.
The Tony Award-winning actress died Thursday at Denville Hall, a retirement home for actors in southern England. Plowright was surrounded by loved ones at the time of her death.
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Joan Plowright was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)
“We are so proud of all that Joan has done and for being such a loving and deeply inclusive human being.”
Part of an astonishing generation of British actors, including Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith, Plowright won a Tony Award, two Golden Globes and Oscar and Emmy nominations. She became a woman Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.
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Laurence Olivier and English actress Joan Plowright in a scene from John Osborne’s play “The Entertainer”, which premiered on Broadway on February 4, 1958. (AP photo)
Plowright and her late husband Olivier influenced the British theater scene in the decades after the Second World War.
The British actress was born Joan Ann Plowright in Brigg, Lincolnshire, England. She began to grace the stage at the age of 3 while her mother led a drama group.
Plowright spent his school holidays attending summer lectures at university drama schools. After high school, she studied at the Laban Art of Movement Studio in Manchester and then won a two-year scholarship to drama school at the Old Vic Theatre. in London.
Left to right, actress Joan Plowright, director Peter Greenaway, actresses Joely Richardson and Juliet Stevenson of “Drowning by Numbers” pose for a photo after a screening of their film Thursday, May 19, 1988 in competition at the 41st Cannes Film Festival , France. (AP Photo/Pierre Gleizes)
In 1954, she made her debut on the London stage, and two years later she became a member of the Royal Court Theatre. Plowright gained recognition in plays written by John Osborne. She has worked with actors including Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Anthony Hopkins.
Plowright made her feature film debut with an uncredited role in American director John Huston’s 1956 adaptation of Herman Melville’s epic Moby Dick, starring Gregory Peck as the possessed Captain Ahab.
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A year later she starred with her future husband Olivier in the original London production of Osborne’s “The Entertainer”. She played Olivier’s daughter in the piece, and the two reunited for the 1960 film adaptation.
Joan Plowright, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Enchanted April,” arrives at the Music Center in Los Angeles on March 29, 1993 for the 65th Annual Academy Awards. (AP Photo/Julie Markes)
In 1961, Plowright and Olivier married in Connecticut while they were both acting on Broadway — he in “Becket” and she in “A Taste of Honey,” for which she won a Tony.
“Sometimes I feel such a peace come over me when I think of you or write to you — a gentle tenderness and serenity. A feeling devoid of violence, passion or devastating longing… it makes me go out into the street with a smile on my face and in my heart for everything,” wrote Olivier in a love letter to Plowright.
Olivier died in 1989 at the age of 82. After his death, Plowright enjoyed a revival of his acting career at the age of 60.
In 1993, Plowright became one of only a handful of actors to win two Golden Globes the same year. She won the TV award for supporting actress for “Stalin” and the award for supporting actress for the movie “Enchanted April”.
Joan Plowright, left, Laurence Olivier and actress Lauren Bacall at the U.S. premiere of Lord Olivier’s only made-for-television Shakespeare production, “King Lear,” in New York, May 3, 1983. (AP Photo/Carlos Rene Perez, file)
Along with dozens of film credits, she has appeared in films such as “Dennis the Menace,” “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” and “The Scarlet Letter.”
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Plowright is survived by three children – Tamsin, Richard and Julie-Kate, who are all actors, and several grandchildren.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
