Dame Joan Plowright recounted how her agent had told her he would find her a part “(Dame) Judi Dench hasn’t got her paws on” while reminiscing with famous friends in a BBC film. Documentary Nothing Like A Dame saw Dame Joan – who died on Friday aged 95 – meet up with friends Dame Judi,

Joan Ann Plowright was born on 29 October 1929 in Brigg, Lincolnshire. Her mother, Daisy, was a keen amateur actor and by the age of three, her daughter had taken to the stage. She went to Scunthorpe Grammar School before studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic. Her mother encouraged her choice of career, albeit with brutal candour.

Part of an astonishing generation of British actors, including Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith, Plowright won a Tony Award, two Golden Globes and nominations for an Oscar and an Emmy.

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.

Dame Joan Plowright, whose already glittering stage career reached even greater heights after the death of her husband, Laurence Olivier, was one of the greatest actresses of her generation.

Joan Plowright, perhaps the greatest Anglophone actor of the 20th century and the widow of Laurence Oliver, has died. She was 95.

Her family said: "It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on January 16 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95. "She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire.

A Tony Award winner in 1961 for Tony Richardson and George Devine’s A Taste of Honey and an Oscar nominee for Mike Newell’s Enchanted April (1991), Plowright belonged to a celebrated group of British actresses (Judi Dench and Maggie Smith among them) who came into their own in the 1960s and ’70s.

Renowned British actor Dame Joan Plowright, who starred in films like 101 Dalmatians, Dennis the Menace, The Entertainer, and Spiderwick, has passed away. She was 95. Her family announced her peaceful passing on Thursday (January 16), surrounded by loved ones at her retirement home.

Award-winning actor Dame Joan Plowright, the widow of Lord Laurence Olivier, has died aged 95, her family has announced. A statement said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on January 16 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95.

Golden Globe-winning acting legend Dame Joan Plowright had died aged 95. In a career spanning six decades, the British actor starred in Hollywood blockbusters and tread the boards in major theatres across the world. In the 1960s she married fellow screen star Sir Laurence Olivier who she remained with until his death.

Award-winning actress Joan Plowright, widow of Laurence Olivier, has died at the age of 95, her family has announced.