Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier (; 28 October 1929 – 16 January 2025), commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, was an English actress whose career spanned eight 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 SchoolStar Pupils Revealed at Scunthorpe Telegraph . Retrieved 9 July 2016 and then trained at The Old Vic Theatre School.

Career

Plowright made her stage debut at Croydon in 1948 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

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. The couple remained married until Olivier's death in 1989. Plowright's younger brother, David Plowright (1930–2006), was an executive at Granada Television.

She published her memoirs, And That's Not All, in 2001.

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 + 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 and 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 1994 A Pin for the Butterfly A Pin for the Butterfly (1994): at the BFI 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

+ 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 1958 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 Winnie Verloc 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";released in the US as The Summer House 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

+ 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 Don Juan Baptista Royal Court Theatre The Death of Satan Receptionist Royal Court Theatre Cards of Identity Miss Tray Royal Court Theatre The Good Woman of Setzuan Mrs. Shin Royal Court Theatre 1957 The Country Wife Margery Pinchwife Royal Court Theatre Adelphi Theatre, London The Making of Moo Elizabeth Compton Royal Court Theatre The Entertainer Jean Rice Palace Theatre, London 1958 The Lesson The Student Phoenix Theatre, Off-Broadway The Chairs Old Woman The Entertainer Jean Rice Royale Theatre, Broadway Major Barbara Major Barbara Royal Court Theatre Hook, Line and Sinker Arlette Piccadilly Theatre, London 1959 Roots Beatie Bryant Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Royal Court Theatre Duke of York's Theatre 1960 Rhinoceros Daisy Royal Court TheatreA Taste of Honey 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 1964 Hobson's Choice