Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier (; 28 October 1929 – 16 January 2025), commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, 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 before acting onstage at the Royal National Theatre where she met her husband Laurence Olivier. She acted opposite him in the John Osborne play The Entertainer in 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), A Place for Annie (1994), 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 Actress – 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
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. She attended Scunthorpe Grammar School and then trained at The Old Vic Theatre School. 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.
Plowright made her film debut in an uncredited role in Moby Dick (1956). 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. She also acted in the films Uncle Vanya (1963), Three Sisters (1970), and Equus (1977). In the 1990s, she began to appear more regularly in films, including I Love You to Death (1990); Avalon (1990); Enchanted April (1992), for which she won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination; Dennis the Menace (1993), where she played Martha Wilson; A Place for Annie (1994); The Scarlet Letter (1995); Jane Eyre (1996); 101 Dalmatians (1996), where she played the dog nanny; Dance with Me (1998); 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.
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. Her later films included Bringing Down the House (2003), Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005), and The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), as well as voiced roles for the children's films Dinosaur (2000) and Curious George (2006). She made her final filmed appearance in the British documentary Nothing Like a Dame (2018) with her acting Dame friends Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins.
Personal life
thumb|upright=1.2|Plowright with [[Laurence Olivier, President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan, 1983]]
Marriages and family
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 Olivier's twenty-year marriage to the actress Vivien Leigh. Plowright and Olivier had three children together, all three of whom have worked in the theatre.
Illness and death
Plowright's vision declined steadily during the late 2000s and early 2010s due to macular degeneration. In 2014, she officially announced her retirement from acting because she had become legally blind.
Plowright died at Denville Hall in Northwood, London, on 16 January 2025, aged 95.
Legacy and reputation
The Plowright Theatre in Scunthorpe is named in Plowright's honour.
In her obituary, Variety described Plowright as "perhaps the greatest Anglophone actor of the 20th century".
Acting credits
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
|-
! scope=col | Year !! scope=col | Title !! scope=col | Role !! scope=col | 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 ||
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1982 || Britannia Hospital || Phyllis Grimshaw ||
|-
| Brimstone and Treacle || Norma Bates ||
|-
| 1985 || Revolution || Mrs. Daisy McConnahay ||
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1988
| Drowning by Numbers || Eva Krichinsky ||
|-
| 1991 || Enchanted April || Grandma ||
|-
| Widows' Peak || Mrs. Dawn Doyle-Counihan ||
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1995
| The Scarlet Letter || Mrs. Wendy Linzer ||
|-
| Hotel Sorrento || Marge Morrisey ||
|-
| rowspan="4" |1996
| 101 Dalmatians || Nanny ||
|-
| Surviving Picasso || Françoise's Grandmother ||
|-
| Mr. Wrong || Mrs. Jessica Crawford ||
|-
| Jane Eyre || Mrs. Ida Bober ||
|-
| 1998 || Dance with Me || Bea Johnson ||
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1999
| Tom's Midnight Garden || Mrs. Ortensia Bartholomew ||
|-
| Tea with Mussolini || Baylene ||Voice
|-
| Back to the Secret Garden || Martha Sowerby ||
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2002
| Global Heresy || Lady Foxley ||
|-
| Callas Forever || Mother Superior ||
|-
| 2005 || Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont || Beatrice Fairfield ||
|-
| Curious George || Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick ||
|-
| 2009 || Knife Edge || Winnie || 4 episodes
|-
| 1954 || BBC Sunday-Night Theatre || A Young Actress/Pip || Uncompleted and lost Orson Welles film <!-- <br/> Film -->
|-
| 1958 || Sword of Freedom || Lisa Giocondo || Episode: "The Woman in the Picture"
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1959 || Theatre Night || Arlette Le Boeuf || Episode: Hook, Line, and Sinker
|-
| World Theatre || Sonya || Episode: Uncle Vanya
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1970 || ITV Playhouse || Lisa || Episode: "The Plastic People"
|-
| ITV Sunday Night Theatre || Viola/Sebastian || Episode: "Twelfth Night"
|-
| 1973 || The Merchant of Venice || Portia || rowspan="3" | Film
|-
| rowspan="2"| 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 || Meg Bowles || Episode: "The Birthday Party"
|-
| 1989 || And a Nightingale Sang || Mam || rowspan="5" | Film
|-
| 1990 || Sophie || Sophie
|-
| 1991 || The House of Bernarda Alba || La Poncia
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1992
| Stalin || Daisy Werthan
|-
| 1993 || Screen Two || Mrs Monro || Episode: "The Clothes in the Wardrobe";<br>released in the US as The Summer House
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1994
| The Return of the Native || Mrs Yeobright || rowspan="3" | Film
|-
| A Place for Annie || Dorothy
|-
| On Promised Land || Mrs Appletree
|-
| 1998–1999 || Encore! Encore! || Marie Pinoni || 12 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1998
| Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within || Jeanne Vertefeuille || rowspan="5" | Film
|-
| This Could Be the Last Time || Rosemary
|-
| 2000 || Frankie & Hazel || Phoebe Harkness
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2001 || Bailey's Mistake || Aunt Angie
|-
| Scrooge and Marley || Narrator
|-
|}
Theatre
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Role
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Venue
|-
| 1948 || If Four Walls Told || Hope (stage debut) || Croydon Repertory Theatre, England
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1954 || The Merry Gentlemen || Allison || Bristol Old Vic, England
|-
| The Duenna || Baptista || Royal Court Theatre
|-
| The Death of Satan || Receptionist || Royal Court Theatre
|-
| Cards of Identity || Elizabeth Compton || Royal Court Theatre
|-
| The Entertainer || Arlette || Piccadilly Theatre, London
|-
| 1959 || Roots || Another Constatia || Chichester Festival Theatre, England
|-
| 1962–1963 || Uncle Vanya
|| Maggie Hobson || Old Vic Theatre
|-
| The Master Builder || Dorine || Old Vic Theatre
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1968 || The Advertisement || Teresa || Old Vic Theatre
|-
| Love's Labour's Lost || Voice of Lilith || Old Vic Theatre
|-
| 1970 || The Merchant of Venice || Silla || New Theatre
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1972 || The Doctor's Dilemma || Jennifer Dubedat || Chichester Festival Theatre
|-
| The Taming of the Shrew || Katharina || Chichester Festival Theatre
|-
| 1973 || Rosmersholm || Rebecca West || Greenwich Theatre, London
|-
| 1973–1975 || Saturday, Sunday, Monday || Stella Kirby || Old Vic Theatre
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1975 || The Seagull || Mam || Vaudeville Theatre, London
|-
| 1981 || Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? || Martha || Royal National Theatre, London
|-
| 1982 || Cavell || Mrs. Warren || Royal National Theatre
|-
| 1986–1987 || The House of Bernarda Alba and was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2004 New Year Honours.
She received an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from the University of Hull in 2001.
Awards and nominations
Plowright was nominated for all the Triple Crown of Acting awards (Academy Award, Emmy Award, and Tony Award), winning the Tony Award in 1961. In 1993, she also became the second of only four actresses (as of 2026) to have won two Golden Globe Awards in the same year.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
|-
! scope=col | Award
! scope=col | Year
! scope=col | Category
! scope=col | Nominated work
! scope=col | Result
! scope=col class=unsortable |
|-
|Academy Awards
|1993
|Best Supporting Actress
|Enchanted April
|
|
|-
|1977
|Best Actress in a Supporting Role
|Equus
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Golden Globe Awards
|rowspan=2|1993
|Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
|Enchanted April
|
|rowspan=2|
|-
|Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
|rowspan=2|Stalin
|
|-
|Primetime Emmy Awards
|1993
|Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special
|
|
|-
|Tony Awards
|1961
|Best Actress in a Play
|A Taste of Honey
|
|
|-
|rowspan=3|Laurence Olivier Awards
|1976
|rowspan=3|Actress of the Year in a New Play
|The Bed Before Yesterday
|
|
|-
|1978
|Filumena
|
|
|-
|1980
|Enjoy
|
|
|-
|}
Bibliography
See also
- List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of British actors
- List of Royal National Theatre Company actors
References
External links
- Performances – listed in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
- Joan Plowright at rottentomatoes.com