Dame Joan Plowright, the widow of Sir Laurence Olivier, has passed away at the age of 95.
The news of Oscar nominee’s sad demise was announced by her family on Friday.
“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,” Her family said in a statement.
They continued, “She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire.”
“Joan is survived by her loving family: Tamsin and Wilf, Julie-Kate and Dan, Richard, Shelley, Troy, Ali, Jeremy, step-granddaughter and great-granddaughter Kaya and Sophia, and great-granddaughter soon to arrive,” the statement added.
Plowright, who is one of the Britain's most celebrated stage and screen stars, was best known for her Golden Globe award-winning performances in TV biopic Stalin and Enchanted April, for which she was also nominated for an Academy Award.
She married Olivier in 1961 after starring opposite him as his daughter in The Entertainer, and became a leading member of the National Theatre, which he set up.
Dame Joan Plowright spent her last decade in retirement, after losing her eyesight and being registered blind.
