Joan ann plowright was born in brigg, lincolnshire. Her mother, daisy, was a keen amateur actor and by the age of three, her daughter had taken to the stage. Dame joan plowright, one of britain's most celebrated stage and screen stars and the widow of sir laurence olivier, has died at the age of 95.

Plowright always rated her saint joan at londons old vic theatre in 1963 as her finest work. That is the sort of part that all young women want to play, she told the bbc in 2018. In a statement on friday,.