UK acting star Joan Plowright dies aged 95

Oscar-nominated UK actress Joan Plowright, a legend of stage and screen and wife of the great actor Laurence Olivier, has died at 95, her family said Friday.

"It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on 16 January 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall at the glorious age of 95.

"Her brilliant career will be remembered by many, and her wonderful life will always be cherished by her children Richard, Tamsin, and Julie-Kate, their families, and Joan's many friends," they added.

Plowright may be best remembered as Olivier's wife, but she was also one of the leading actors of her generation.

Her career was primarily played out in the theatre, often opposite her husband, but following his death in 1989, she began to find more roles on screen.

(FILES) Sir Laurence Olivier and English actress Joan Plowright play in a scene of his film "The Entertainer", in 1960.Photo by STAFF / INTERCONTINENTALE / AFP

Her later film and television work introduced her to new generations with two films that took her to Italy.

In the 1991 film "Enchanted April," set in the 1920s, she played the acid-tongued Mrs. Fisher, for which she missed out on an Oscar to Marisa Tomei.

The other film that took her to Italy was Franco Zeffirelli's 1999 "Tea with Mussolini," set in Florence in 1935. In it, she teamed up with two other dames of the English stage, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.

In 1993, she became one of the few actors to win two Golden Globes in the same year, one for "Enchanted April" and the other for the HBO TV series "Stalin."

She also appeared in films that attracted a younger audience, such as "Dennis the Menace," "Last Action Hero," and "101 Dalmatians".

Plowright suffered macular degeneration, which gradually caused her to go blind, leading her to retire from acting in 2014.