Acting legend Dame Joan Plowright dies aged 95

Dame Joan Plowright, one of Britain’s most acclaimed stage and screen stars and widow of Sir Laurence Olivier, has died aged 95.

His career spanned 60 years and included an Oscar nomination for the 1991 film Enchanted April.

She married Olivier in 1961 after starring opposite him as his daughter in The Entertainer and became a prominent member of the National Theatre, which he created.

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

Born in Scunthorpe, she became a leading lady on London’s West End in the 1950s and first appeared opposite Olivier in The Entertainer at the Royal Court in 1957.

Both were nominated for Bafta awards for the film version, which was released three years later.

Plowright won a Tony Award for starring in A Taste of Honey on Broadway in New York, also in 1960.

He received another Bafta nomination in 1978 for Equus, opposite Richard Burton.

A statement from the family said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, Lady Olivier, informs 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 for seven decades until blindness forced her to retire.

“He cherished his last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with lots of laughter and good memories.”

They added: “We are so proud of everything Joan did and who she was as a loving and deeply inclusive human being.

“She survived her many challenges with Plowright’s courage and brave determination to bring out the best in them, and she certainly did.

“Rest in peace, Juana…”

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