Born in Scunthorpe, Plowright became a leading lady in London’s West End in the 1950s and first appeared opposite Olivier in John Osborne’s The Entertainer at the Royal Court in 1957.
At the time, he was still married to Gone With the Wind star Vivien Leigh, while Plowright was married to her first husband, Roger Gage.
Plawright and Olivier fell in love, and their acting partnership earned them both Bafta Award nominations for the 1960 film version of The Entertainer.
That same year, Plowright also made her US breakthrough in The Taste of Honey on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for her performance.
Her other honors included the West End Society Theater Award – later renamed the Olivier Award in honor of her husband – in 1978 for Philomena.
In the same year, she received another Bafta Award nomination for her performance in the film version of Equus opposite Richard Burton.
