Joan Plowright, celebrated star of stage and screen, dies aged 95

‘I had to cook a ragout live on stage. The delicious smell sent people out at the interval looking happy but very hungry’ … Joan Plowright in 2001. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

The actor Joan Plowright, who was celebrated for her long career in theatre and film, has died at the age of 95, her family have announced.

Plowright won acclaim for performances during the early years of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court and the National Theatre when it was based at the Old Vic and led by her second husband, Laurence Olivier.