Joan Plowright Died at 95One of Britain's finest stage actresses, she later became famous on the film screen, although she preferred stage work.

The Tony and Golden Globe winner has said movies are a backup to pay the bills, saying: "If the roof needs patching, you make movies."

Theater audiences loved her versatility and sense of humor, and in 1961 she played a troubled teen in Broadway's Tony Award-winning "A Taste of Honey," starring Angela Lansbury as her mother.

Other notable stage roles include "Saint Joan" in 1963 and "Saturday, Sunday, Monday" a decade later, as well as films including "Enchanted April" in 1992 and "Drinking with Mussolini" in 1999 Tea".

She was also married to acting great Sir Laurence Olivier for 28 years until his death in 1989.

After his death, Plowright continued her acting career into her 80s, until loss of vision forced her to retire.

Joan Ann Plowright was born on 29 October 1929 in Brigg, Lincolnshire.

Her mother, Daisy, was a keen amateur actress and her daughter took to the stage at the age of three.

She attended Scunthorpe Grammar School and then studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic.

Her mother encouraged her choice of career, albeit with great candor.

"You're not a painting," Daisy said, "but you have a spark. Thank God you have my legs and not your father's."

She made her professional stage debut in Croydon in 1948, and in 1956 she joined the Royal Court Theater in London.

At the time, the royal court was a hotbed of new talent, specializing in controversial works. It’s also the spiritual birthplace of kitchen sink drama.

Plowright gained recognition in a series of roles created by this group of angry young men, who relied on acting skills rather than just charisma.

The daughter of a Lincolnshire newspaper editor, she was far from working-class, but her down-to-earth and emotional honesty helped British drama move with the times.

In 1957, she co-starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in John Osborne's drama The Entertainer.

Olivier, who played Archie Rice, was at the peak of his acting career and considered a matinee idol.

Plowright plays his daughter, and the actors' mutual respect leads to romance. "There's nothing sexier for a man than talent," she commented.

She was initially wary of a relationship with him - Olivier was 22 years older and already one of Britain's most famous theater couples, married to Vivien Leigh.

Plowright himself is married to actor Roger Gage.

But Sir Lawrence's second wife Leigh was deeply troubled by mental illness and divorced Olivier in 1960.

Plowright and her husband divorced that same year.

Olivier married Plowright a year later in Connecticut, around the same time she won a Broadway Tony Award for her performance in "A Taste of Honey."

The couple soon appeared together in a series of plays in Chichester, England, including the famous production of Uncle Vanya.

The Guardian's Michael Billington called it "one of the greatest Chekhov experiences of the 20th century...and brought tears to my eyes".

They went on to have three children, but their marriage was not always smooth sailing.

"He had extreme behavior and you can understand that," she said later. "You just have to find a way to not get swept away by his demons."

Their relationship also resulted in her refusing for five years to perform at the National Theatre, where her husband was director from 1962 to 1973.

The actress feels she is vulnerable to accusations of favoritism.

But eventually she signed a ten-year contract with the theater, playing roles much more important than those at the royal court.

By now, her husband had been promoted to the peerage - making her Lady Olivier - but she did not use the title.

Plowright received a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for her performance in the 1992 film April.

As Lord Olivier's health declined, his wife was cast in the 1990 dark comedy I Love You Till I Die, starring Kevin Kline and Tracey Ullman. accepted her first big screen role.

Lord Olivier died of kidney failure in 1989 at the age of 82.

Ten years later, the actress won a starring role in Franco Zeffirelli's 1999 autobiographical film Tea with Mussolini alongside her close friends Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. praise.

After her husband's death, Dame Joan found work a great comfort and she appeared in more than a dozen films between 2000 and 2010.

These include 2003's "I Am David," about a boy's escape from a Bulgarian gulag, and the same year's comedy "Breaking Down," starring Steve Martin.

Yet she clearly sees the screen as the theater's poor cousin.

"We can't pretend that most movie dialogue is that challenging," she said. "If the roof needs repair, you make a movie."

As if by consensus, the theater in her hometown of Scunthorpe was renamed after her.

Her main obstacle to doing more theater work is her eyesight, which she suffers from macular degeneration, which makes the stage increasingly difficult.

In 2014, blindness forced her to retire from all types of acting careers.

Four years later she appeared in the BBC Arena film, alongside three old friends - Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins and Judi Dench. Nothing like a lady.

The grand dames of British theater recall their lives and careers with brutal honesty and humility.

Filmed in the garden of the house she shared with Olivier, Plowright spoke candidly about how she tried to avoid playing Cleopatra at the National Theater because she felt she would be ridiculed for her lack of beauty.

“They all thought we were the best,” she admits. "They don't realize we're shaking inside."