Who was Joan Plowright? Everything to know as theatre legend dies at 95

Actor Dame Joan Plowright, one of Britain's most celebrated stage and screen stars, passed away at the age of 95 at Denville Hall on January 16, as per her family. Joan had a successful acting career spanning 60 years and even won an Oscar nomination for the 1991 film Enchanted April.

Announcing her death in a statement, Plowright's family said,

"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."

The Society of London Theatre announced they will dim their lights for two minutes in remembrance at 7:00 pm on Tuesday in playhouses across London's West End.

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More about Dame Joan Plowright

Dame Joan Plowright was born on October 28, 1929, in Brigg, Lincolnshire, and was the second of three children of Daisy Margaret Burton and William Ernest Plowright. Plowright came from a family of artists; her mother was an amateur actor and opera singer who taught dancing, and her father was a journalist.

Joan made her stage debut in 1948 in Croydon in the show If Four Walls Told and then joined the Old Vic Theatre Company. Here, she met her husband, Roger Gage. Joan went on to become a leading lady in London's West End in the 1950s and first appeared alongside Olivier in John Osborne's The Entertainer at the royal court in 1957. Despite the two being married to other people, Joan and Olivier fell in love, and their acting partnership earned them both BAFTA nominations for the film version of The Entertainer.

In 1960, Joan Plowright went on to make a breakthrough in the US in A Taste of Honey on Broadway and won a Tony Award for her performance. Her other notable plays at the time included Saint Joan in 1963, for which she was named Best Actress at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Her most recent accomplishments include Plowright reprising her role as Saint Joan in 2013 for a speech used at the 50th birthday celebration of the National Theatre. In 2018, she looked back on her career in Roger Michell's film Nothing Like a Dame alongside Dench, Smith, and Eileen Atkins.