1. Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier, commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, was an English actress whose career spanned over six decades.
30 Facts About Joan Plowright
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Joan Plowright 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.
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Joan Plowright was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.
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Joan Plowright acted opposite him in the John Osborne play The Entertainer on the West End in 1957 and on Broadway in 1958.
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Joan Plowright earned the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her A Taste of Honey.
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Joan Plowright won the Laurence Olivier Award for Filumena.
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Joan Plowright made her film debut in an uncredited role in Moby Dick.
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Joan Plowright was BAFTA-nominated for her roles in The Entertainer and Equus.
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Joan Plowright acted in the films Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, Avalon, Dennis the Menace, 101 Dalmatians, Jane Eyre, Tea with Mussolini, Bringing Down the House and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont.
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Joan Plowright voiced roles for the children's films Dinosaur and Curious George.
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Joan Plowright retired from acting due to macular degeneration in 2014.
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Joan Plowright made her final filmed appearance in the documentary Nothing Like a Dame.
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Joan Plowright was born on 28 October 1929 in Brigg, Lincolnshire, the daughter of Daisy Margaret and William Ernest Joan Plowright, who was a journalist and newspaper editor.
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Joan Plowright made her stage debut at Croydon in 1948 and her London debut in 1954.
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Joan Plowright appeared with George Devine in the Eugene Ionesco play The Chairs, and Shaw's Major Barbara and Saint Joan.
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Joan Plowright made her film debut in an uncredited role in Moby Dick.
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In 1957, Joan 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.
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Joan Plowright has appeared on stage and in films such as The Entertainer.
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Joan Plowright acted in the films Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and Equus.
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Joan Plowright was appointed honorary president of the English Stage Company in March 2009, succeeding John Mortimer who died in January 2009.
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Joan Plowright made her final filmed appearance in the British documentary Nothing Like a Dame with her acting Dame friends Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins.
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Joan Plowright was first married to the actor Roger Gage in September 1953.
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Joan Plowright later divorced him and in 1961 married Laurence Olivier shortly after the end of Olivier's twenty-year marriage to the actress Vivien Leigh.
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Joan Plowright's younger brother, David Joan Plowright, was an executive at Granada Television.
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Joan Plowright published her memoirs, And That's Not All, in 2001.
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Joan Plowright's vision declined steadily during the late 2000s and early 2010s due to macular degeneration.
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Joan Plowright died at Denville Hall in Northwood, London, on 16 January 2025, aged 95.
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Joan Plowright was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1970 New Year Honours and was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year Honours.
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Joan Plowright received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Hull in 2001.
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Joan Plowright was nominated for all the Triple Crown of Acting awards, winning the Tony Award in 1961.