Joan Plowright. In Memoriam

Dame Joan Plowright (1929-2025), who passed away at 95, was a pivotal figure in British theatre, particularly during its transformation in the late 1950s. As a founder member of George Devine's English Stage Company in 1956, she gained prominence playing Beatie Bryant in Arnold Wesker's "Roots" (1959). Her marriage to Laurence Olivier in 1961 led to significant roles at the National Theatre, where she excelled in productions like Uncle Vanya, Saint Joan, and later The Merchant of Venice (1970) and A Woman Killed With Kindness (1971). She went on to achieve great success in West End productions, notably in Eduardo de Filippo's plays Saturday Sunday Monday and Filumena, and delivered memorable performances in classics such as The Cherry Orchard and The Way of the World. But she also appeared in Broadway. As a matter of fact she won a Tony Award for her performance in A Taste of Honey in 1961.

In her later career, Plowright transitioned primarily to film work, particularly after 1990. She appeared in several acclaimed movies including Drowning by Numbers (1988) by Peter Greenaway, An Enchanted April (1991) (with a nomination for best-supporting actress at the Academy Awards), James Ivory's Surviving Picasso (1996),  Widows' Peak (1998), Franco Zeffirelli's Tea With Mussolini (1999), and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005). She retired in 2014 due to failing eyesight. Nevertheless, she still appeared in 2018 in the documentary Nothing Like a Dame with Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, and Maggie Smith.

And, of course, she was Mrs Fairfax in Jane Eyre 1996. Quoting from her autobiography, And That's Not All (2001):

We went [she and her mother] on a pilgrimage together to Haworth Parsonage in Yorkshire, where the Bronté sisters had lived, written their books and died. It seemed that every window in their house looked out onto gravestones; and we thought it was no wonder Emily took to striding on the moors all day to get away. My mother liked Charlotte best, and though I identified closely with Jane Eyre, I was fascinated by Emily’s more dangerous nature, and we were both quite fond of Anne. I think we had read almost everything they had ever written.