Joan Plowright dead: ‘Enchanted April’, ‘Stalin’ actor was 95

Joan Plowright, the English actress whose decades-long career included an Oscar-nominated turn in “Enchanted April” and the films “The Entertainer” and “Stalin,” has died.

The actress died Thursday at Denville Hall, a nursing 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 spanning seven decades in theatre, film and television until blindness forced her to retire,” her family said. “We are so proud of everything Joan did and who she was as a loving and deeply inclusive person.”

Plowright may be remembered as the third and last wife of British acting legend Laurence Olivier, but she leaves behind an impressive legacy that spanned theatre, film and television.

In the first year of her marriage to Olivier, Plowright was a Tony-winning actress (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 received critical praise for her performance in Tony Richardson’s 1960 film, “The Entertainer,” which also starred Olivier as her father.

However, Plowright experienced even more professional success after Olivier’s death in 1989, delivering 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 holiday. Plowright’s “Enchanted April” performance earned her her first and only supporting actress Oscar nomination. At the 1993 Golden Globes, Plowright received two awards: a supporting actor in a motion picture award for “Enchanted April” and a supporting actor in a series, miniseries or television movie for “Stalin.”

Plowright often portrayed the grandmotherly type in a number 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 funny movie roles, it doesn’t seem terribly exciting to be in the 257th revival of ‘The Rivals,'” she said. “And it’s fun to go all over the world – and be extremely well paid.”

Joan Plowright received 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 films “On Promised Land”, “A Place for Annie” and “Back to the Secret Garden”.

The actor was also one of four subjects in the Roger Michell documentary “Nothing Like a Dame.” The 2018 project celebrated the careers of Plowright and her co-stars Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Plowright was born on 28 October 1929 in BrigNorth Lincolnshire, England, to journalist and editor William Ernest Plowright and his wife, Daisy Margaret. She began her acting career in plays staged by her mother. At the age of 15, she won a drama trophy and with it the chance to spend a week in a minor role with the Harry Hanson players. After she was turned down for the role (Hanson told her: “Go home, my dear, go home”), she received a scholarship to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School.

Her first marriage was to Roger Gage in 1953; they divorced in 1960. Plowright first caught Olivier’s attention 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 nickname 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 married. After 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 to help keep his life going in a hugely important, very stressful job,” she recalled to The Times. “Larry didn’t want us to be ships passing 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 surrounding her husband’s sexuality.

In 2004, a few years before her final film appearances, Plowright was appointed a Dame Commander of the British Empire during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Plowright said the award was “kind of a crowning achievement of one’s life.”

“It’s a bit confusing. I have so many names: Dame Olivier and Lady Plowright,” she joked, according to the BBC. “I say just 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.