Joan Plowright (1929- ), British actress, who made her mark with contemporary roles for the English Stage Company. Born in Lincolnshire, she trained at the Old Vic Theatre School and took leading roles at the Nottingham Playhouse before joining the English Stage Company at the Royal Court in 1956. She made an immediate impact when she was cast as Mrs Pinchwife in a revival of The Country Wife by William Wycherley, but new writing proved to be her forte. Alongside Laurence Olivier, she played Jean Rice in The Entertainer (1957) by John Osborne, which transferred to the West End and New York, and had other successes in Major Barbara (1958) by George Bernard Shaw and Roots (1959) by Arnold Wesker. She married Olivier in 1961 and when he became the artistic director of the National Theatre Company in 1963 she undertook many leading classical roles that proved the diversity of her talents. Later successes have included the Franco Zeffirelli production of Saturday, Sunday, Monday (1973), Filumena (1977), which won her a Society of West End Theatres Award, and The Way of the World (1984).

Plowright’s film career has blossomed in later years, with British projects such as Drowning By Numbers (1987) by Peter Greenaway and Enchanted April (1992) preceding a variety of Hollywood roles. Her other film appearances have included Dance with Me (1998), Tom's Midnight Garden, Tea With Mussolini (all 1998), the last-named film also starring Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, Callas Forever (2002), and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005). Her television work has included a role in the US situation comedy Encore! Encore! (1998). She also played Signora Frola in Zeffirelli’s West End stage production Absolutely! (Perhaps) (2003), adapted from Pirandello’s Right You Are If You Think So. She was awarded the CBE in 1970 and made a DBE in the 2004 New Year Honours List.