Born in Scunthorpe, Plowright grew to become a number one girl in London’s West Finish within the Fifties, and first appeared reverse Olivier in John Osborne’s The Entertainer on the Royal Courtroom in 1957.

He was nonetheless married to Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh on the time, and Plowright was married to her first husband Roger Gage.

Plowright and Olivier fell in love, and their appearing partnership earned them each Bafta nominations for the movie model of The Entertainer, which got here out in 1960.

That 12 months, Plowright additionally made her breakthrough within the US in A Style of Honey on Broadway, successful a Tony Award for her efficiency.

Her different notable performs included George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan, about Joan of Arc, in 1963, which for which she was named finest actress on the Night Commonplace Theatre Awards.

And he or she received a Society of West Finish Theatre Award – later renamed the Olivier Awards after her husband – in 1978 for Filumena.

She obtained one other Bafta nomination that very same 12 months for her efficiency within the movie model of Equus alongside Richard Burton.

In Enchanted April, her function because the elegant however peevish Mrs Fisher earned her a Golden Globe in addition to a nomination for the Oscar for finest supporting actress in 1993.