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Joan Plowright

(1929-), Actress

Dame Joan Ann Plowright (Lady Olivier)

Sitter in 12 portraits
Plowright trained at the Bristol 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.

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Joan Plowright, by Angus McBean - NPG P908

Joan Plowright

by Angus McBean
bromide print, early 1960s
NPG P908

Joan Plowright, by Mark Gerson - NPG x17988

Joan Plowright

by Mark Gerson
bromide print, September 1957
NPG x17988

Joan Plowright as Jean Rice and Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice in 'The Entertainer', by Keystone Press Agency Ltd - NPG x194152

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, by John Vere Brown - NPG x68282

Joan Plowright

by John Vere Brown
bromide fibre print, 1957
NPG x68282

Joan Plowright, by Paul Tanqueray - NPG x21781

Joan Plowright

by Paul Tanqueray
vintage bromide print, 1958
NPG x21781

Joan Plowright and Laurence Olivier in 'The Entertainer', by Bert Cann - NPG x45058

Joan Plowright and Laurence Olivier in 'The Entertainer'

by Bert Cann
bromide print, 1960
NPG x45058

Joan Plowright, by Sandra Lousada - NPG x135448

Joan Plowright

by Sandra Lousada
gelatin silver print, 1961
NPG x135448

Joan Plowright; Laurence Olivier; Hon. Richard Olivier, by Anthony Buckley - NPG x76239

Joan Plowright; Laurence Olivier; Hon. Richard Olivier

by Anthony Buckley
modern bromide print from original negative, 1961
NPG x76239

''In' Group', by Patrick Lichfield - NPG x128493

''In' Group'

by Patrick Lichfield
archival inkjet print, July 1967
NPG x128493

Joan Plowright, by Carolyn Djanogly - NPG x87747

Joan Plowright

by Carolyn Djanogly
bromide fibre print, 1997
NPG x87747

Web image not currently available

Joan Plowright as Mrs Margery Pinchwife in 'The Country Wife'

by Angus McBean
halftone reproduction tear sheet, published 2 January 1957
NPG x193411

Web image not currently available

The Olivier family

by Alistair Morrison
C-type colour print, circa 1986
NPG x30426

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