Dame Joan Plowright dead: Award-winning actress whose career spanned more than 60 years dies aged 95
DAME Joan Plowright has died at the age of 95.
The actress, who was married to Lord Laurence Olivier, passed away surrounded by her family at Denville Hall in Northwood yesterday.
She was known for her Golden Globe award-winning performances in TV biopic Stalin and Enchanted April, for which she was also nominated for an Academy Award.
Dame Joan also starred in Love You To Death with River Phoenix, and was a star of the West End and Broadway before her international movie success.
A family statement said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on January 16 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95.
“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire.
“She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories.
“The family are deeply grateful to Jean Wilson and all those involved in her personal care over many years.
“Joan is survived by her loving family: Tamsin and Wilf, Julie-Kate and Dan, Richard, Shelley, Troy, Ali, Jeremy, step-granddaughter and great granddaughter Kaya and Sophia, and great grand-daughter soon to arrive.
“The family ask you to please respect their request for privacy at this time.
“We are so proud of all Joan did and who she was as a loving and deeply inclusive human being.
“She survived her many challenges with Plowright grit and courageous determination to make the best of them, and that she certainly did.
“Rest in peace, Joan…”
Dame Joan’s wedding to Lord Olivier in 1961 was the sensation of the year.
Their marriage was an enduring one until the theatre great’s death in 2007 at the age of 86.
She became his carer through a series of chronic illnesses, including cancer.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, Plowright racked up dozens of stage roles in everything from Chekhov’s The Seagull to Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
Dame Joan stunned in Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs and George Bernard Shaw’s totemic two female roles Major Barbara and Saint Joan.
“I’ve been very privileged to have such a life,” Plowright said in a 2010 interview with The Actors Work.
“I mean it’s magic and I still feel, when a curtain goes up or the lights come on if there’s no curtain, the magic of a beginning of what is going to unfold in front of me.”
She was awarded the title of dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.