Revealed: Huge sum Dame Joan Plowright left to her children after the award-winning actress died last year aged 95

Published: 12:13, 19 May 2026 | Updated: 12:27, 19 May 2026 The huge sum of money Dame Joan Plowright left to her children after she died 'peacefully' last year has been revealed. The British actress, who was married to Lord Laurence Olivier, was known for her Golden Globe award-winning performances in TV biopic Stalin and Enchanted April, for which she was also nominated for an Academy Award. Her family shared a statement in January 2025 saying it was their 'great sadness' to announce she had passed away at the age of 95. Newly released documents have now shown the Oscar nominee had £2,814,901 in her estate at the time of her death, with the figure brought down to £2,711,847 after expenses. Her will, dated December 2019 stated most of the money should be shared among her three children Julie, Richard and Tamsin. However, Dame Joan left personal items too - to friends including singer Tracey Ullman. She had left further gifts to acting colleague Dame Maggie Smith who died four months before her in September 2024 and to Norma Heyman, another actress and film producer. Other items were set aside for actor and screenwriter Gawn Grainger, Anne Bell and Nicholas Grace. Dame Joan Plowright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards at the Savoy in London in 1999 Dame Joan Plowright with her husband Lord Laurence Olivier in London in 1965 Dame Joan Plowright (second left) with Laurence Olivier (centre) along with their son Richard, and their two daughters Tamsin (left) and Julie-Kate (right) in December 1988 Dame Joan left £5,000 each to Clive McColl, Jean Wilson, Janet Macklam and Helen Johnson. Her will also specified that a sword used by Edmund Kean in Shakespeare's Richard III - given to her husband Lord Olivier by Sir John Gielgud - should be lent to the British Library or another appropriate British charity. This was unless her children decided 'it can properly be permanently preserved for exhibition or inherited by an actor generally thought to be as great as its previous owners'. Dame Joan's career spanned 60 years and included an Oscar nomination for the 1991 film Enchanted April. She married Lord Olivier in 1961 after starring opposite him as his daughter in The Entertainer, and became a leading member of the National Theatre, which he set up. At the time of her death her family said they were 'so proud of all Joan did and who she was as a loving and deeply inclusive human being'. Born in Brigg, Lincolnshire, Dame Joan became a leading lady in London's West End in the 1950s, and first appeared opposite Lord Olivier in John Osborne's The Entertainer at the Royal Court in 1957. He was still married to Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh at the time, and she was married to her first husband Roger Gage. Diana Churchill (left) and Laurence Harvey alongside Dame Joan Plowright (right) in costume for William Wycherley's comedy 'The Country Wife' at London's Adelphi Theatre in 1957 Dame Joan Plowright at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1960 However, the pair are said to have fallen in love, and their acting partnership earned them both Bafta nominations for the film version of The Entertainer, which came out in 1960. That year, Dame Joan also made her breakthrough in the US in A Taste of Honey on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for her performance. Her other notable plays included George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, about Joan of Arc, in 1963, which for which she was named best actress at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. And she won a Society of West End Theatre Award - later renamed the Olivier Awards after her husband - in 1978 for Filumena. She received another Bafta nomination that same year for her performance in the film version of Equus alongside Richard Burton. In Enchanted April, her role as the elegant but peevish Mrs Fisher earned her a Golden Globe as well as a nomination for the Oscar for best supporting actress in 1993. Her marriage to Lord Olivier was an enduring one until his death in 1989 at the age of 82. She became his carer through a series of chronic illnesses, including cancer. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. 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