Great Britain: From England to Hollywood: Joan Plowright dies

Hollywood discovered late how convincing Joan Plowright could be with her matronly appearances. As a nanny in “101 Dalmatians,” for example, or in the comedy “Dennis,” about a little tormentor. Now Plowright – the widow of acting legend Laurence Olivier – has died at the age of 95, as the British news agency PA reported, citing her family.

In Great Britain, her stage career is now primarily remembered; theaters in London’s West End even want to dim the lights in her honor. The US industry portal “Variety” praised her as “perhaps the greatest English-speaking actress of the 20th century”.

Marriage to Laurence Olivier

Plowright was born in northern England, the daughter of a local editor and an amateur actress. After drama school she ended up at the avant-garde Royal Court Theater in London.

It was there that Olivier fell in love with her. At that time he was still married to film star Vivien Leigh (“Gone with the Wind”); but the marriage was broken. Plowright was also married. At the end of the 1950s she played Olivier’s daughter in the production “The Comedian”. Plowright’s parents were initially worried. “My mother thought he was a philanderer,” she once said in a BBC interview. The two finally married in 1961.

“A genius is not an ordinary person”

It couldn’t always have been easy being married to such a successful actor and theater director. There were rumors about affairs and his sexuality. Plowright once told the BBC: “A genius is not an ordinary person. He doesn’t lead an ordinary life. He has extreme behaviors that you understand and you just find a way not to be disturbed by his demons.”

Plowright was with her husband, whom she later cared for, until his death in 1989. He encouraged her to pursue an international career, writes the British news agency PA.

Plowright celebrated numerous successes throughout her career and received the most important US stage award – the Tony Award – for her role in “A Taste of Honey”. She was always in front of the camera, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that she really got going, with a role in an American television film about Anne Frank, alongside Maximilian Schell.

She starred in the comedy “I Love You to Death” with Kevin Kline and Keanu Reeves. She was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for her supporting role in “Enchanted April,” as well as for the television film “Stalin.” Then Hollywood came knocking on the door.

She later retired from acting because she was slowly becoming blind. But in 2018 she allowed a camera crew to film her with British actors Judi Dench (“James Bond”), Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”) and Eileen Atkins (“The Crown”). All had been awarded the title of Dame by the Queen. The result was the documentary “Tea with the Dames – an unforgettable afternoon”, which gave a wonderful insight into the world of theater and film and made Plowright’s life shine once again.