Figure timeline
Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier, commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, was an English actress whose career spanned over six 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.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
entertainment · British actress (1929–2025) · actor · stage actor · film actor · television actor · also Joan Plowright, Joan Anne Plowright, Dame Joan Ann Plowright, the Lady Olivier, Joan Ann Plowright, Plowright
Born 28 October 1929 · Died 16 January 2025 · Q230035
29 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
4 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
I sometimes feel such a peacefulness come over me when I think of you, or write to you - a gentle tenderness and serenity. A feeling devoid of all violence, passion or shattering longing... it makes me go out into the street with a smile on my face and in my heart for everybody.
In many of these she acted alongside Sir Laurence Olivier, her partner in art and life.
88%BBCSource
“I sometimes feel such a peacefulness come over me when I think of you, or write to you - a gentle tenderness and serenity. A feeling devoid of all violence, passion or shattering longing... it makes me go out into the street with a smile on my face and in my heart for everybody.”
“In many of these she acted alongside Sir Laurence Olivier, her partner in art and life.”
“I marvelled at every take she did and learned so much from her.”
The Conversation: Joan Plowright – a leading actress in British theatre’s post‑war class revolution
The Washington Post: Joan Plowright, English actress of dazzling versatility, dies at 95
Rolling Stone: Dame Joan Plowright, Celebrated English Actress and Tony Winner, Dead at 95
Los Angeles Times: Joan Plowright, award-winning ‘Enchanted April’ and ‘Stalin’ actor, dies at 95
Yardbarker: Joan Plowright, Star of Stage & Screen and Laurence Olivier’s Widow, Dies at 95
CBS News: Dame Joan Plowright, Tony Award-winning British actor and widow of Laurence Olivier, dies at 95
Yahoo: Dame Joan Plowright, actress who with her husband Laurence Olivier was a driving force in British theatre
Yardbarker: Dame Joan Plowright dead at 95
Yahoo: Joan Plowright, Acting Legend of Stage and Screen and Laurence Olivier’s Widow, Dies at 95
Deadline.com: Joan Plowright Dies: Oscar-Nominated British Acting Legend Was 95
Died 2025-01-16.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Officially announced her retirement from acting because she had become legally blind
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2004).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plowright performed in the stage production Absolutely
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Crystal Award (1994).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for Stalin (1993).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for Enchanted April (1993).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Also became the second of only four actresses (as of 2026) to have won two Golden Globe Awards in the same year
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1970).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (1961).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Married Laurence Olivier shortly after the end of Olivier's twenty-year marriage to the actress Vivien Leigh
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Received a Tony Award for her role in A Taste of Honey on Broadway
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 t
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Joined the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre and was cast as Margery Pinchwife in The Country Wife
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1929-10-28.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Connections
Family we also track