Long time Sussex resident Dame Joan Plowright dies aged 95

The British actress, who was married to Lord Laurence Olivier, was 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.

The long-time Ashurst resident also starred in Love You To Death with River Phoenix, and was a star of the West End and Broadway before her international movie success.

Actor Sir Laurence Olivier, aged 80, with his wife Joan Plowright, Lady Olivier (second left), his son Richard, and his two daughters Tamsin (left) and Julie-Kate. (Image: PA/PA Wire) Her family said in a statement: “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.

Read more: Tributes pour in for legendary Argus journalist

“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire.

“She cherished her last ten years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories.

“The family are deeply grateful to Jean Wilson and all those involved in her personal care over many years.

“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 family ask you to please respect their request for privacy at this time.

“We are so proud of all Joan did and who she was as a loving and deeply inclusive human being.

“She survived her many challenges with Plowright grit and courageous determination to make the best of them, and that she certainly did.

“Rest in peace, Joan…”.

Dame Joan’s wedding to Lord Olivier in 1961 was the sensation of the year, and their marriage was an enduring one until the theatre great’s death.

Dame Joan leaving the church in Ashurst after the funeral of her husband Lord Olivier (Image: PA/PA Wire)She became his carer through a series of chronic illnesses, including cancer, until he died in 1989 at the age of 82.

Her role in the 1991 British comedy Enchanted April won her a Golden Globe for her waspish widow character, and she was also known for 101 Dalmatians in 1996 and Tea With Mussolini in 1999.

She won a second Golden Globe for the TV biopic Stalin in 1993.

Lord Olivier (left), Dame Joan and Paul Scofield (right) at a vigil in support of Valery and Galina Panov, the Russian dancers on hunger strike in Leningrad (Image: PA/PA Wire)In 1961 she won a Tony Award for the role of Jo in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey on Broadway, which saw her star opposite the late Dame Angela Lansbury playing her mother.

Born in Scunthorpe, Dame Joan was educated at the local grammar school before winning a scholarship to the Old Vic Theatre School at the age of 17.

Her first stage appearance was in If Four Walls Told at the Croydon Repertory Theatre in 1948 and she later joined the English Theatre Company at the Royal Court.

She met Lord Olivier in 1957 when he was still married to Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh, and they fell in love while co-starring in the stage version of John Osborne’s The Entertainer.

She received a damehood in the 2004 New Year Honours.

Dame Joan announced she was retiring from acting in 2014, after her losing her eyesight due to macular degeneration and becoming registered as blind.

In 2021, her friend and contemporary Dame Judi Dench spoke about having the same condition.

Prior to that, in 2014, Dame Joan took part in the documentary film Nothing Like A Dame, alongside Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Judi and Dame Maggie Smith, which saw them discuss their careers and lives.