Joan Plowright
(1929-), ActressDame Joan Ann Plowright (Lady Olivier)
Sitter in 12 portraits
Plowright trained at the London Old Vic Theatre School and in 1956 joined the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. In 1957 she played opposite Laurence Olivier (whom she married in 1961) in The Entertainer and was Beattie in Arnold Wesker's Roots (1959). She won a TONY award for her performance in A Taste of Honey at the Lyceum Theatre in New York (1960). Her screen career includes roles in The Dressmaker (1988), Enchanted April (1992) and Tea with Mussolini (1999). She was made a Dame in 2004 and in 2009 she was appointed Honorary President of the English Stage Company.
Joan Plowright as Jean Rice and Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice in 'The Entertainer'
by Keystone Press Agency Ltd
vintage print, 1957
NPG x194152
Joan Plowright and Laurence Olivier in 'The Entertainer'
by Bert Cann
bromide print, 1960
NPG x45058
Joan Plowright; Laurence Olivier; Hon. Richard Olivier
by Anthony Buckley
modern bromide print from original negative, 1961
NPG x76239
by Patrick Lichfield
archival inkjet print, July 1967
NPG x128493
Joan Plowright as Mrs Margery Pinchwife in 'The Country Wife'
by Angus McBean
halftone reproduction tear sheet, published 2 January 1957
NPG x193411
Related People
- Hon. Julie Kate Olivier (daughter)
- Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (husband)
- Hon. Richard Olivier (son)
- Hon. Tamsin Olivier (daughter)
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