Dame Joan Plowright was an English actress who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 1992’s “Enchanted April.”
- Died: January 16, 2025 (Who else died on January 16?)
- Details of death: Died in Northwood, England at the age of 95.
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Joan Plowright’s legacy
By the time Plowright was an Academy Award nominee in 1993, for “Enchanted April,” the English actress had already acted in six different decades. By the time of her last on-screen acting role, 2009’s “Knife Edge,” she would make it seven.
Plowright was one of the greats of the British acting world, making her stage debut in the 1940s. She frequently took stage roles in London and on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1961 for “A Taste of Honey,” in which she starred with Angela Lansbury (1925–2022).
In addition to her 1993 Oscar nomination for “Enchanted April,” Plowright won two Golden Globe Awards that same year – one for “Enchanted April,” and one for the 1992 HBO drama “Stalin.” Her other notable films include “Equus” (1977), “I Love You to Death” (1990), Dennis the Menace” (1993), “Widow’s Peak” (1994), “101 Dalmatians” (1996), and “The Spiderwick Chronicles” (2008). Plowright announced her retirement from acting in 2014 after losing her sight to macular degeneration. She was married to Sir Laurence Olivier (1907–1989) from 1961 until his death.
In addition to her many award nominations and wins, she was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1970, and promoted to Dame Commander in 2004.
Notable quote
“Well, you do keep a memory of all the parts you’ve played. I don’t find them to be a burden. There are some that I would happily forget [laughs] but the main ones, no, they are part … it’s almost like part of a family, part of your family, that they are kept to the back of your mind in your head. Each one really is a part of your personality, because a little bit of it has gone into that character, so that they are all in a way part of you. But they’re not a burden.” —from a 2010 interview with Andrew MacKay
Tributes to Joan Plowright
Full obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
