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Joan Plowright

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Dame
Joan Plowright
DBE
Plowright in 1958
Born
Joan Ann Plowright

(1929-10-28)28 October 1929
Brigg, Lincolnshire, England
Died16 January 2025(2025-01-16) (aged 95)
Northwood, London, England
Alma materOld Vic Theatre School
OccupationActress
Years active1948–2014 • 2018
Spouses
  • Roger Gage
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1953; div. 1960)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1961; died 1989)​
Children3
RelativesDavid Plowright (brother)

Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE[1] (28 October 1929 – 16 January 2025) was an English actress whose career spanned over six decades. She received several accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.

Plowright studied at the Old Vic Theatre School[2] before acting onstage at the Royal National Theatre where she met her husband Sir Laurence Olivier. She acted opposite him in the John Osborne play The Entertainer on the West End in 1957 and on Broadway in 1958. She earned the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her A Taste of Honey (1961). She won the Laurence Olivier Award for Filumena (1978).

She made her film debut in an uncredited role in Moby Dick (1956). She later won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Enchanted April (1991). She was BAFTA-nominated for her roles in The Entertainer (1960) and Equus (1977). She also acted in the films Uncle Vanya (1963), Three Sisters (1970), Avalon (1990), Dennis the Menace (1993), 101 Dalmatians (1996), Jane Eyre (1996), Tea with Mussolini (1999), Bringing Down the House (2003), and Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005). She also voiced roles for the children's films Dinosaur (2000) and Curious George (2006).

On television she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her role in the HBO television film Stalin (1992). She retired from acting due to macular degeneration in 2014. She made her final filmed appearance in the documentary Nothing Like a Dame (2018).

Early life and education

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Plowright was born on 28 October 1929 in Brigg, Lincolnshire, the daughter of Daisy Margaret (née Burton) and William Ernest Plowright, who was a journalist and newspaper editor.[3][4] She attended Scunthorpe Grammar School[5] and then trained at The Old Vic Theatre School.[6]

Career

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Plowright as Jo (right) with Angela Lansbury as Helen, in the 1961 Broadway production of A Taste of Honey

Plowright made her stage debut at Croydon in 1948[7] and her London debut in 1954. In 1956 she joined the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre and was cast as Margery Pinchwife in The Country Wife. She appeared with George Devine in the Eugène Ionesco play The Chairs, and Shaw's Major Barbara and Saint Joan.

In 1957, Plowright co-starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in the original London production of John Osborne's The Entertainer, taking over the role of Jean Rice from Dorothy Tutin when the play transferred from the Royal Court to the Palace Theatre. She continued to appear on stage and in films such as The Entertainer (1960). In 1961, she received a Tony Award for her role in A Taste of Honey on Broadway.

Through her marriage to Olivier, Plowright became closely associated with his work at the National Theatre from 1963 onwards. In the 1990s, she began to appear more regularly in films, including Enchanted April (1992), for which she won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination, Dennis the Menace (1993), The Scarlet Letter (1995), 101 Dalmatians (1996), playing Nanny, and Tea With Mussolini (1999). Among her television roles, she won another Golden Globe Award and earned an Emmy Award nomination for the HBO film Stalin in 1992 as the Soviet dictator's mother-in-law. Her pair of 1992 performances (Enchanted April and Stalin) marked only the second time an actress (after Sigourney Weaver, for performances in 1988) won two Golden Globes in the same year; as of the January 2023 presentation, only Helen Mirren (for performances in 2006) and Kate Winslet (for performances in 2008) have duplicated this feat. In 1994, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.[8]

In 2003, Plowright performed in the stage production Absolutely! (Perhaps) in London. She was appointed honorary president of the English Stage Company in March 2009, succeeding John Mortimer, who died in January 2009. She was previously vice-president of the company.[9] She made her final filmed appearance in the British documentary Nothing Like a Dame (2018) alongside her friends and colleagues Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench, and Dame Eileen Atkins.[10]

Personal life

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Marriages and family

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Plowright was first married to the actor Roger Gage in September 1953. She later divorced him and in 1961, married Laurence Olivier shortly after the end of his twenty-year marriage to the actress Vivien Leigh. Plowright and Olivier had three children together.[11] Both daughters became actresses.[12] The couple remained married until Olivier's death in 1989. Plowright's younger brother, David Plowright (1930–2006), was an executive at Granada Television.

Illness and death

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Plowright's vision declined steadily during the late 2000s and early 2010s due to macular degeneration and in 2014, she officially announced her retirement from acting because she had become legally blind.[13] Plowright died at Denville Hall in Northwood, London, on 16 January 2025, at the age of 95.[14][15]

Legacy

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The Plowright Theatre in Scunthorpe is named in Plowright's honour.[16] Plowright was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1970 New Year Honours[17] and was promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the 2004 New Year Honours.[18] In her obituary, Variety described her as "perhaps the greatest Anglophone actor of the 20th century".[19][20]

Acting credits

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Film

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Film roles
Year Title Role Notes
1956 Moby Dick Starbuck's wife Uncredited
1957 Time Without Pity Agnes Cole
1960 The Entertainer Jean Rice
1963 Uncle Vanya Sonya
1970 Three Sisters Masha Kulighina
1977 Equus Dora Strang
1982 Britannia Hospital Phyllis Grimshaw
Brimstone & Treacle Norma Bates
1985 Revolution Mrs. Daisy McConnahay
1988 Drowning by Numbers Cissie Colpitts 1
The Dressmaker Nellie
1990 I Love You to Death Nadja
Avalon Eva Krichinsky
1991 Enchanted April Mrs. Jane Fisher
1993 Dennis the Menace Mrs. Martha Wilson
Last Action Hero Teacher
The Summer House Mrs. Evelyn Munro
1994 A Pin for the Butterfly Grandma
Widows' Peak Mrs. Dawn Doyle-Counihan
1995 The Scarlet Letter Harriet Hibbons
A Pyromaniac's Love Story Mrs. Wendy Linzer
Hotel Sorrento Marge Morrisey
1996 101 Dalmatians Nanny
Surviving Picasso Françoise's Grandmother
Mr. Wrong Mrs. Jessica Crawford
Jane Eyre Mrs. Maddie Fairfax
1997 The Assistant Mrs. Ida Bober
1998 Dance with Me Bea Johnson
1999 Tom's Midnight Garden Mrs. Ortensia Bartholomew
Tea with Mussolini Mary Wallace
2000 Dinosaur Baylene Voice
Back to the Secret Garden Martha Sowerby
2002 Global Heresy Lady Foxley
Callas Forever Sarah Keller
2003 Bringing Down the House Virginia Arness
I Am David Sophie
2004 George and the Dragon Mother Superior
2005 Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont Mrs. Sarah Palfrey
2006 Goose on the Loose Beatrice Fairfield
Curious George Victoria Plushbottom Voice
2008 The Spiderwick Chronicles Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick
2009 Knife Edge Marjorie
2018 Nothing Like a Dame Herself Documentary

Television

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Television roles
Year Title Role Notes
1951 Sara Crewe Winnie 4 episodes
1954 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre Adriana 3 episodes
1955 Moby Dick—Rehearsed A Young Actress/Pip Uncompleted and lost Orson Welles film
1957 Sword of Freedom Lisa Giocondo Episode: "The Woman in the Picture"
1959 Theatre Night Arlette Le Boeuf Episode: Hook, Line, and Sinker
World Theatre Lady Teazle Episode: The School for Scandal
ITV Play of the Week Viola Episode: The Secret Agent
ITV Television Playhouse Jane Maxwell Episode: Odd Man In
1967 NET Playhouse Sonya Episode: Uncle Vanya
1970 ITV Playhouse Lisa Episode: "The Plastic People"
ITV Sunday Night Theatre Viola/Sebastian Episode: Twelfth Night
1973 The Merchant of Venice Portia Film
1978 Saturday, Sunday, Monday Rosa
Daphne Laureola Lady Pitts
1980 The Diary of Anne Frank Mrs. Frank US film
1982 All for Love Edith Episode: "A Dedicated Man"
1983 Wagner Mrs. Taylor Episode: "1.2"
1986 The Importance of Being Earnest Lady Bracknell Film
1987 Theatre Night Meg Bowles Episode: "The Birthday Party"
1989 And a Nightingale Sang Mam Film
1990 Sophie Sophie
1991 The House of Bernarda Alba La Poncia
1992 Stalin Olga
Driving Miss Daisy Daisy Werthan
1993 Screen Two Mrs. Monro Episode: "The Clothes in the Wardrobe"
1994 The Return of the Native Mrs. Yeobright Film
A Place for Annie Dorothy
On Promised Land Mrs. Appletree
1998–1999 Encore! Encore! Marie Pinoni 12 episodes
1998 Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within Jeanne Vertefeuille Film
This Could Be the Last Time Rosemary
2000 Frankie & Hazel Phoebe Harkness
2001 Bailey's Mistake Aunt Angie
Scrooge and Marley Narrator

Theatre

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Theatre roles
Year Title Role Venue
1948 If Four Walls Told Hope (stage debut) Croydon Repertory Theatre, England
1954 The Merry Gentlemen Allison Bristol Old Vic, England
The Duenna Donna Clara Westminster Theatre, London
1955 Moby Dick Pip Duke of York's Theatre, London
1956 The Crucible Mary Warren Royal Court Theatre, London
Dom Juan Baptista Royal Court Theatre, London
The Death of Satan Receptionist Royal Court Theatre, London
Cards of Identity Miss Tray Royal Court Theatre, London
The Good Woman of Setzuan Mrs. Shin Royal Court Theatre, London
1957 The Country Wife Margery Pinchwife Royal Court Theatre
Adelphi Theatre, London
The Making of Moo Elizabeth Compton Royal Court Theatre, London
The Entertainer Jean Rice Palace Theatre, London
1958 The Lesson[21] The Student Phoenix Theatre, Off-Broadway
The Chairs[21] Old Woman
The Entertainer[21] Jean Rice Royale Theatre, Broadway
Major Barbara Major Barbara Royal Court Theatre, London
Hook, Line and Sinker Arlette Piccadilly Theatre, London
1959 Roots Beatie Bryant Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Royal Court Theatre, London
Duke of York's Theatre
1960 Rhinoceros Daisy Royal Court Theatre, London
A Taste of Honey[21] Josephine Booth Theatre, Broadway
1962 The Chances Another Constatia Chichester Festival Theatre, England
1962–1963 Uncle Vanya Sonya Chichester Festival Theatre
Old Vic Theatre, London
1963 Saint Joan Saint Joan Old Vic Theatre, London
1964 Hobson's Choice Maggie Hobson Old Vic Theatre, London
The Master Builder Hilda Wangel Old Vic Theatre, London
1967–68 Much Ado about Nothing Beatrice Old Vic Theatre, London
Three Sisters Masha Old Vic Theatre, London
Tartuffe Dorine Old Vic Theatre, London
1968 The Advertisement Teresa Old Vic Theatre, London
Love's Labour's Lost Rosaline Old Vic Theatre, London
1969 Back to Methuselah, Part II Voice of Lilith Old Vic Theatre, London
1970 The Merchant of Venice Portia Cambridge Theatre, London
Old Vic Theatre, London
1971 A Woman Killed with Kindness Mistress Anne Frankford New Theatre, London
The Rules of the Game Silla New Theatre, London
1972 The Doctor's Dilemma Jennifer Dubedat Chichester Festival Theatre, England
The Taming of the Shrew[22] Katharina Chichester Festival Theatre, England
1973 Rosmersholm Rebecca West Greenwich Theatre, London
1973
1974–75		 Saturday, Sunday, Monday Rosa Old Vic Theatre, London
Queen's Theatre, London
1974 Eden's End Stella Kirby Old Vic Theatre, London
1975 The Seagull Irena Arkadina Lyric Theatre Company, London
The Bed before Yesterday Alma Lyric Theatre Company, London
1978 Filumena Filumena Marturano Lyric Theatre, London
1980 Filumena[21] Filumena Marturano St. James Theatre, Broadway
Enjoy Mam Vaudeville Theatre, London
1981 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Martha Royal National Theatre, London
1982 Cavell Edith Cavell Chichester Festival Theatre, England
1983 The Cherry Orchard Madame Ranevskaya Haymarket Theatre, London
1984 The Way of the World Lady Wishfort Chichester Festival Theatre
Haymarket Theatre, London
1985 Mrs. Warren's Profession Mrs. Warren Lyttelton Theatre, London
1986–87 The House of Bernarda Alba La Poncia Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London
Globe Theatre, London
1990 Time and the Conways Mrs. Conway Old Vic Theatre, London

Awards and nominations

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She was the second of only four actresses (as of 2024) to have won two Golden Globes in the same year.

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1961 Tony Awards Best Actress in a Play A Taste of Honey Won [21]
British Academy Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer The Entertainer Nominated [23]
1977 Best Supporting Actress Equus Nominated
1993 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress Enchanted April Nominated
1993 Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Won
Best Supporting Actress – Television Stalin Won
1993 Primetime Emmy Awards Best Supporting Actress – Limited Series or TV Movie Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Herbert Kretzmer (28 August 2014). Snapshots: Encounters with Twentieth-Century Legends. Biteback. ISBN 978-1-84954-798-7. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  2. ^ Wiegand, Chris (17 January 2025). "Joan Plowright dies after long stage and screen career". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  3. ^ "Joan Plowright Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 29 June 2007.
  4. ^ "Joan Plowright Biography (1929–)". www.filmreference.com.
  5. ^ Star Pupils Revealed at Scunthorpe Telegraph Archived 1 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 July 2016
  6. ^ MacKay, Andrew (23 April 2010). "Joan Plowright – interview transcript" (PDF). The British Library.
  7. ^ "Entertainment | Plowright steals the limelight". BBC News. 31 December 2003. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Past Recipients: Crystal Award". Women In Film. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  9. ^ Smith, Alistair (5 March 2009). "Plowright becomes honorary president of English Stage Company". The Stage. The Stage Newspaper Limited. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  10. ^ "Nothing Like a Dame". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  11. ^ Munn, Michael (2007). Lord Larry: The Secret Life of Laurence Olivier: a Personal and Intimate Portrait. London: Robson Books. pp. 205, 209 and 218. ISBN 978-1-86105-977-2. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Joan Plowright Biography". Film Reference. Retrieved 29 June 2007.
  13. ^ Walker, Tim (13 May 2014). "Joan Plowright bows out to a standing ovation". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  14. ^ Wiegand, Chris (17 January 2025). "Joan Plowright dies after long stage and screen career". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  15. ^ "Acting legend Dame Joan Plowright dies at 95". BBC News. 17 January 2025. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  16. ^ "Venues: The Plowright Theatre". Scunthorpe Theatres. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Viewing Page 9 of Issue 44999". London-gazette.co.uk. 30 December 1969. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  18. ^ "Viewing Page 7 of Issue 57155". London-gazette.co.uk. 31 December 2003. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  19. ^ "Oscar-nominated star Joan Plowright dies, aged 95". The Independent. 17 January 2025.
  20. ^ Dagan, Carmel (17 January 2025). "Joan Plowright, Acting Legend of Stage and Screen and Laurence Olivier's Widow, Dies at 95". Variety.
  21. ^ a b c d e f "Joan Plowright". Playbill.
  22. ^ Schafer, Elizabeth, ed. (2002). The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare in Production. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 9780521667418.
  23. ^ "Joan Plowright". IMDb.
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