Advocacy for necessary change around gender and disability as well as race will continue with future generations of actors. Joan Plowright's legacy as one of the most subtly powerful inventors of the class revolution of post-war British theatre is secure.

LONDON -- Award-winning British actor Joan Plowright, who was one half of a theatrical power couple after marrying Laurence Olivier, has died. She was 95. In a statement Friday, her family said Plowright died the previous day at Denville Hall, a retirement home for actors in southern England, surrounded by her loved ones.

Shrewd intelligence and impeccable comic timing were the hallmarks of the late-flourishing film career of the great theatre star Dame Joan Plowright, who has died aged 95.

Actress Joan Plowright poses for a portrait at a New York hotel on May 4, 1999. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett, File) Laurence Olivier and English actress Joan Plowright in a scene from John Osborne’s play,

Joan Plowright, an English actress whose marriage to celebrated actor-director Laurence Olivier conferred on her instant rank among the theatrical nobility and who carved her own considerable and singular place on the British stage,

Joan Plowright, the distinguished actress of the post-war British stage whose considerable skill as a performer was at times eclipsed by her fame as the third and last wife of Laurence Olivier, has died.

Actor Joan Plowright helped shape British postwar theatre through her performances at the Royal Court, National Theatre and in Lodon's West End

Joan Plowright is shown during a dress rehearsal for the play Roots at the Royal Court Theatre in London, on June 28, 1960. The play, second of the Wesker ... in the Arnold Schwarzenegger self ...

LONDON – Dame Joan Plowright, a venerated figure of British theatre and film who forged a distinguished career spanning decades, has died at the age of

"Major Barbara" and "Saint Joan." Plowright appeared in plays by John Osborne, Shelagh Delaney and Arnold Wesker.

LONDON (AP) — Award-winning British stage actor Joan Plowright, the widow of Laurence Olivier, has died. She was 95. In a statement Friday, her family said Plowright died the previous day, surrounded by her loved ones.

Actress Joan Plowright is shown during a dress rehearsal for the play Roots at the Royal Court Theatre in London, on June 28, 1960. The play, second of the Wesker trilogy, was presented by the ...