Joan Plowright, the English actor whose decades-long career included an Oscar-nominated turn in “Enchanted April” and films “The Entertainer” and “Stalin,” has died.
The actor died Thursday at Denville Hall, a retirement home for actors in southern England, her family said Friday in a statement to the Associated Press. She was 95.
“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire,” her family said. “We are so proud of all Joan did and who she was as a loving and deeply inclusive human being.”
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Plowright may be remembered as the third and final wife of British acting legend Laurence Olivier, but she leaves behind an impressive legacy of her own that spanned theater, film and television.
By the first year of her marriage to Olivier, Plowright was a Tony-winning actor (she won for “A Taste of Honey” in 1961) who had graced stages on Broadway and in London, including as a member of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. She was also a BAFTA-nominated star who earned critical praise for her performance in Tony Richardson’s 1960 film, “The Entertainer,” which also starred Olivier as her father.
Plowright, however, saw even more professional success after Olivier’s death in 1989, as she delivered memorable performances in films throughout the ’90s and early aughts, including “Enchanted April,” “Stalin,” The Scarlet Letter” and “The Spiderwick Chronicles.”
Joan Plowright and actor Laurence Olivier married in 1961 and welcomed three children. (Associated Press)
In director Mike Newell’s “Enchanted April,” Plowright shared the screen with Alfred Molina, Miranda Richardson and Polly Walker as the elderly Mrs. Fisher, one of four women seeking respite on an Italian vacation. Plowright’s “Enchanted April” performance earned her her first and only Academy Award nomination, for supporting actress. At the 1993 Golden Globes, Plowright earned two awards: a supporting actress in a motion picture prize for “Enchanted April,” and a supporting actress in a series, miniseries or TV movie for “Stalin.”
Plowright often portrayed the grandmotherly type in a variety of films, including family-friendly titles “101 Dalmatians” and “Dennis the Menace.” In a 1996 interview with The Times, Plowright said she didn’t mind.
“When you get such interesting and amusing film roles, it doesn’t seem dreadfully exciting to be in the 257th revival of ‘The Rivals,'” she said. “And it’s fun setting off all over the world — and being extremely well-paid.”
Joan Plowright earned an Oscar nomination for her work in the film “Enchanted April.” (Nick Ut / Associated Press)
In film, Plowright’s credits include “Tea With Mussolini,” “Surviving Picasso,” “I Love You to Death,” “Avalon”and “Drowning by Numbers.” Her television appearances include “Encore! Encore!” and the movies “On Promised Land,” “A Place for Annie” and “Back to the Secret Garden.”
The actor was also one of four subjects of the Roger Michell documentary “Nothing Like a Dame.” The 2018 project celebrated the careers of Plowright and her fellow actor-dames Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.
Plowright was born Oct. 28, 1929, in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, England, to journalist and editor William Ernest Plowright, and his wife, Daisy Margaret. She began her acting in plays put on by her mother. At age 15, she won a drama cup and with it the chance to spend a week in a minor role with the Harry Hanson Players. After she was rejected for the role (Hanson told her, “Go home, my dear, go home”), she received a scholarship to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Her first marriage was to Roger Gage in 1953; they divorced in 1960. Plowright first caught Olivier’s eye in a Royal Court production of “The Country Wife.” In 1957, they shared the stage in the original production of John Osborne’s “The Entertainer” in London.
“I realized Larry was falling in love with me,” she told The Times in 1996, when he called her by a pet name while they were in rehearsals.
Olivier and “Gone With the Wind” star Vivien Leigh ended their marriage after 20 years in 1960 amid the former’s affair with Plowright. A year later, Plowright and Olivier wed. After the marriage, Plowright’s acting career became secondary to that of a wife and mother — she and Olivier had three children together.
“He was a world-famous figure, and I sensed the responsibility I had in helping to keep his life going in an enormously important, highly stressful job,” she recalled to The Times. “Larry didn’t want us to be ships that passed in the night.”
Plowright also published “And That’s Not All: The Memoirs of Joan Plowright” in 2002. The memoir chronicled her upbringing, her romance with Olivier (portrayed through their love letters) and the rumors that surrounded her husband’s sexuality.
In 2004, a few years before her final film appearances, Plowright was named Dame Commander of the British Empire during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. Plowright said the award was “a kind of crowning in one’s life achievement.”
“It’s a bit confusing. I’ve got so many names: Dame Olivier and Lady Plowright,” she joked, according to the BBC. “I just say call me Joan.”
Plowright was preceded in death by Gage and Olivier. She is survived by children Julie Kate Olivier, Tamsin Olivier and Richard Olivier, and three grandchildren.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
