---
name: "Joan Plowright"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/joan-plowright"
fi1m_id: "joan-plowright"
imdb_id: "nm0687506"
tmdb_id: 23709
wikidata_id: "Q230035"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "28 October 1929"
died: "16 January 2025"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 58
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-05T01:51:45.340943+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Joan Plowright

## Identity

Joan Plowright

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/joan-plowright
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** joan-plowright
- **IMDb ID:** nm0687506
- **TMDB ID:** 23709
- **Wikidata ID:** Q230035
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Plowright, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230035, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0687506/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/23709

Actor. Born 28 October 1929 in Brigg, Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England, UK. Died 16 January 2025.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 28 October 1929, Brigg, Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England, UK
- **Died:** 16 January 2025
- **Active:** 1988–2000
- **Also known as:** Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, Joan Ann Olivier, Dame Joan Plowright
- **Frequently works with:** [Joely Richardson](https://film.one/person/joely-richardson.md), [John Hughes](https://film.one/person/john-hughes.md)
- **Golden Globes:** 2 Golden Globes (2 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 58, as actor, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 59 (4), 2000s 52 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 56 to 51 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 3 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 4 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Comedy 3, Family 3, Drama 2, Action 1, Adventure 1, Animation 1
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $943m across 5 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Plowright, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230035, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0687506/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/23709

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*101 Dalmatians*](https://film.one/film/101-dalmatians.md) (54), [*Dinosaur*](https://film.one/film/dinosaur.md) (52)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Joan Plowright

> Joan Plowright came to the cinema late, from a long stage career, and never pretended it was the main event. On screen that becomes a virtue: a widow or a grandmother who says the cutting thing quietly and does not wait for a laugh.

Mrs Fisher in *Enchanted April* (1991) is a literary widow who has gone to Italy to be left alone and finds herself with company. Joan Plowright plays her as a woman who decided long ago that most people are slightly beneath her and sees no reason to raise her voice about it. The lines, on the page, are ordinary observations about other people's shortcomings. She says them exactly, as if reading out a verdict, and the exactness is what makes them funny. Mike Newell's film is gentle to a fault, and she is the reason it is not merely pleasant.

She was a stage actor first and for most of her working life. The Royal Court in the 1950s, Beatie Bryant in Arnold Wesker's *Roots* (1959), Jean Rice opposite Laurence Olivier in the film of *The Entertainer* (1960), then the National Theatre through the 1970s as Sonya, Masha and Saint Joan. Films were a sideline, and she said so: "You do films if the roof needs mending." The screen work only thickens from the late 1980s, with Peter Greenaway's *Drowning by Numbers* (1988), then Newell, then a long run of character parts: Nanny in *101 Dalmatians* (1996), Mary Wallace for Franco Zeffirelli in *Tea with Mussolini* (1999), and a rare lead in *Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont* (2005). Her last screen appearance was in *Nothing Like a Dame* (2018).

What travels from the stage is the certainty. In *Dennis the Menace* (1993) she has little to work with, a comic-strip neighbour's wife, and she gives Martha Wilson enough warmth that Walter Matthau's grumbling becomes bearable; the two of them have the timing of a couple who have been arguing for decades and know which fights are worth having. It is a small thing done properly in a thin film. We laughed harder at Mrs Fisher than the writing deserved, and it was never the line that did it but the way she placed it, the sense of a judgement already made before the scene began. That is the thing she does that others do not. She arrives having decided.

It did not always serve her. Cast again and again as the grande dame, she could let the manner stand in for the woman, and in some of the later American parts and in *Tea with Mussolini* the shrewdness goes soft and sentimental. The film career was supporting work almost throughout, which is a poor use of someone who had played Chekhov and Shaw at the National, and she does not seem to have minded in the least.

Start with *Enchanted April*, where the sharpness has somewhere to go and the film knows what it has. *Dennis the Menace* is for anyone with a child and an afternoon to fill. The rest is a serious actor keeping the roof on, and doing it, each time, with more care than the job asked for.

## Biography

Joan Plowright was an English actress whose career spanned stage and screen from the late 1940s until the 2010s. She trained at the Laban Art of Movement Studio in Manchester and the Old Vic Theatre School in London, making her professional stage debut in 1948 and appearing in London productions from 1954. She was a founder member of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre.

Plowright won a Tony Award for her performance in *A Taste of Honey* (1960) and received two Golden Globe Awards for *Enchanted April* (1991) and the television film *Stalin* (1992), as well as an Academy Award nomination for the former. She appeared in films including *Drowning by Numbers* (1988), *The Entertainer* (1960), *101 Dalmatians* (1996) and *The Spiderwick Chronicles* (2008). She was married to actor Laurence Olivier from 1961 until his death in 1989 and was appointed DBE in 2004. She retired from acting in 2014 due to macular degeneration and died in 2025.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, latimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *Dinosaur* (2000), Fi1m 52, as Baylene (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/dinosaur.md)
- *101 Dalmatians* (1996), Fi1m 54, as Nanny — [page](https://film.one/film/101-dalmatians.md)
- *Dennis the Menace* (1993), Fi1m 56, as Martha Wilson — [page](https://film.one/film/dennis-the-menace.md)
- *Last Action Hero* (1993), Fi1m 62, as Teacher — [page](https://film.one/film/last-action-hero.md)
- *Enchanted April* (1991), Fi1m 65, as Mrs Fisher — [page](https://film.one/film/enchanted-april.md)

## Complete filmography (69)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Knife Edge* (2009), as Marjorie Blake
- *The Spiderwick Chronicles* (2008), as Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick
- *Curious George* (2006), as Ms. Plushbottom (voice)
- *Goose on the Loose* (2006), as Beatrice Fairfield
- *Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont* (2005), as Mrs. Palfrey
- *George and the Dragon* (2004), as Mother Superior
- *I Am David* (2003), as Sophie
- *Bringing Down the House* (2003), as Mrs. Virginia Arness
- *Callas Forever* (2002), as Sarah Keller
- *Global Heresy* (2002), as Lady Foxley
- *Scrooge and Marley* (2001), as Narrator
- *Bailey's Mistake* (2001), as Aunt Angie
- *Frankie & Hazel* (2000), as Phoebe Harkness
- *Back to the Secret Garden* (2000), as Martha Sowerby
- *Dinosaur* (2000), as Baylene (voice) — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/dinosaur.md)
- *Tom's Midnight Garden* (1999), as Mrs Bartholomew
- *Tea with Mussolini* (1999), as Mary Wallace
- *Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within* (1998), as Jeanne Vertefeuille
- *Encore! Encore!* (1998), series, as Marie Pinoni
- *Dance with Me* (1998), as Bea Johnson
- *101 Dalmatians* (1996), as Nanny — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/101-dalmatians.md)
- *Surviving Picasso* (1996), as Françoise's Grandmother
- *Mr. Wrong* (1996), as Mrs. Crawford
- *Jane Eyre* (1996), as Mrs. Fairfax
- *The Scarlet Letter* (1995), as Harriet Hibbons
- *A Pyromaniac's Love Story* (1995), as Mrs. Linzer
- *Hotel Sorrento* (1995), as Marge Morrisey
- *A Pin for the Butterfly* (1995), as Grandma
- *The Return of the Native* (1994), as Frau Yeobright
- *A Place for Annie* (1994), as Dorothy
- *On Promised Land* (1994), as Mrs. Appletree
- *Widows' Peak* (1994), as Mrs. Doyle-Counihan
- *The Clothes in the Wardrobe* (1993), as Mrs. Monro
- *Last Action Hero* (1993), as Teacher — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/last-action-hero.md)
- *Dennis the Menace* (1993), as Martha Wilson — Fi1m 56, [page](https://film.one/film/dennis-the-menace.md)
- *Stalin* (1992), as Olga
- *The House of Bernarda Alba* (1991), as Poncia
- *Enchanted April* (1991), as Mrs Fisher — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/enchanted-april.md)
- *Avalon* (1990), as Eva Krichinsky
- *I Love You to Death* (1990), as Nadja
- *And a Nightingale Sang* (1989), as Mam
- *The Dressmaker* (1988), as Nellie
- *Drowning by Numbers* (1988), as Cissie Colpitts
- *The Importance of Being Earnest* (1988), as Lady Bracknell
- *The Birthday Party* (1987), as Meg Bowles
- *Revolution* (1985), as Mrs. McConnahay
- *Theatre Night* (1985), series, as Meg, Lady Bracknell
- *Screen Two* (1985), series, as Mrs. Monro
- *Brimstone & Treacle* (1982), as Norma Bates
- *All for Love* (1982), series, as Edith
- *Britannia Hospital* (1982), as Phyllis Grimshaw
- *A Dedicated Man* (1982), as Edith
- *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1980), as Edith Frank-Holländer
- *Daphne Laureola* (1978), as Lady Pitts
- *Saturday, Sunday, Monday* (1978), as Rosa
- *Equus* (1977), as Dora Strang
- *Laurence Olivier Presents* (1976), series, as Rosa, Lady Pitts
- *The Merchant of Venice* (1973), as Portia
- *Twelfth Night* (1970), as Viola
- *Three Sisters* (1970), as Masha
- *Omnibus* (1967), series, Actor
- *ITV Playhouse* (1967), series, as Lisa
- *Uncle Vanya* (1963), as Sonya
- *The Entertainer* (1960), as Jean Rice
- *Time Without Pity* (1957), as Agnes Cole
- *Theatre Night* (1957), series, as Arlette Le Boeuf
- *Moby Dick—Rehearsed* (1955), as A Young Actress /Pip
- *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as Mrs. Yeobright, Dorothy
- *Sunday Night Theatre* (1950), series, as Adriana, Phoebe

## Gallery

- ![Joan Plowright](https://film.one/media/person/3926777/gallery-e4ef0d652c84.jpg) Joan Plowright — Associated Press, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Joan_Plowright_1960_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Photo of Joan Plowright as Jo and Andrew Ray as Geoff from the 1960 Broadway production of A Taste of Honey.](https://film.one/media/person/3926777/gallery-161146e20d4e.jpg) Photo of Joan Plowright as Jo and Andrew Ray as Geoff from the 1960 Broadway production of A Taste of Honey. — Bill Doll and Company, New York-publicity agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Joan_Plowright_Andrew_Ray_A_Taste_of_Honey_Broadway_1960.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Angela Lansbury as Helen and Joan Plowright as her daughter, Jo, survey their new flat in the Broadway presentation of A Taste of Honey. (1961)](https://film.one/media/person/3926777/gallery-8ac7c2b4fa2c.jpg) Angela Lansbury as Helen and Joan Plowright as her daughter, Jo, survey their new flat in the Broadway presentation of A Taste of Honey. (1961) — Bill Doll and Company, New York-publicity agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Angela_Lansbury_Joan_Plowright_A_Taste_of_Honey_Broadway.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Photo of Joan Plowright as Jo and Billy Dee Williams as her sailor boy friend from the 1960 Broadway production of A Taste of Honey.](https://film.one/media/person/3926777/gallery-332b53c92a59.jpg) Photo of Joan Plowright as Jo and Billy Dee Williams as her sailor boy friend from the 1960 Broadway production of A Taste of Honey. — Bill Doll and Company, New York-publicity agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Billy_Dee_Williams_Joan_Plowright_A_Taste_of_Honey_Broadway_1960.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Joan Plowright](https://film.one/media/person/3926777/gallery-5f543b9a1a63.jpg) Joan Plowright — Image via TMDB
- ![Photo of Joan Plowright as Jo and Billy Dee Williams as her sailor boy friend from the 1960 Broadway presentation of A Taste of Honey.](https://film.one/media/person/3926777/gallery-768bca8a1515.jpg) Photo of Joan Plowright as Jo and Billy Dee Williams as her sailor boy friend from the 1960 Broadway presentation of A Taste of Honey. — Bill Doll and Company, New York-publicity agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Joan_Plowright_Billy_Dee_Williams_A_Taste_of_Honey_Broadway_1960.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1993: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *Enchanted April*

### Golden Globes — 2 won

- 1993: Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (won), for *Enchanted April*
- 1993: Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (won), for *Stalin*

### Other awards — 4 won

- Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire 2004: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (won)
- Crystal Award 1994: Crystal Award (won)
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1970: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (won)
- Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play 1961: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/joan-plowright