{"id":484,"date":"2026-03-20T08:08:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/?p=484"},"modified":"2026-03-20T08:08:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:08:05","slug":"iconic-tv-star-from-the-crown-and-downton-abbey-dies-at-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/?p=484","title":{"rendered":"Iconic TV Star from The Crown and Downton Abbey Dies at 81"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"48\" data-end=\"380\">The performing arts community is grieving the loss of Jane Lapotaire, a renowned actress whose career spanned both stage and screen. Best known for her performances in <em data-start=\"216\" data-end=\"227\">The Crown<\/em> and <em data-start=\"232\" data-end=\"247\">Downton Abbey<\/em>, she died on March 5 at 81. The Royal Shakespeare Company confirmed her passing, though the cause of death has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"382\" data-end=\"622\">Born Jane Burgess in Ipswich in December 1944, Lapotaire faced a challenging early life. Adopted as an infant, she grew up with a foster mother and experienced a formative legal dispute with her biological mother during her teenage years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"624\" data-end=\"817\">She began her acting career in 1965 at the Bristol Old Vic, quickly making her mark in theatre. She became a founding member of the Young Vic and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"819\" data-end=\"1059\">Lapotaire\u2019s career breakthrough came in 1977 with her portrayal of Marie Curie, followed by her acclaimed performance as Edith Piaf, which earned her a Tony Award. She also established a distinguished presence on both television and film.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1061\" data-end=\"1210\">After surviving a cerebral hemorrhage in 2000, she continued her work in the arts. Recently awarded a CBE, she is survived by her son, Rowan Joffe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The performing arts community is grieving the loss of Jane Lapotaire, a renowned actress whose career spanned both stage and screen. Best known for her <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/?p=484\" title=\"Iconic TV Star from The Crown and Downton Abbey Dies at 81\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviralhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}