Plowright brought stage and screen characters to vibrant life for more than six decades in such works as A Taste of Honey, Tea with Mussolini and Enchanted April.

Part of an astonishing generation of British actors, including Judi Dench,​ Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith​, Joan Plowright won a Tony Award, two Golden Globes and nominations for an Oscar and an Emmy.

Joan Plowright, an award-winning British actress and widow of Laurence Olivier, has died. She was 95. "She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire,