Two-time Oscar Winner and Longtime Lawmaker Glenda Jackson Dies at 87
Glenda Jackson, a two-time Academy Award-winning performer who had a second career in politics as a British lawmaker before an acclaimed late-life return to stage and screen, has died at age 87.
Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner said she died Thursday at her home in London after a short illness.
He said she had recently completed filming “‘The Great Escaper,” in which she co-starred with 90-year-old Michael Caine.
Born into a working-class family in Birkenhead, northwest England, in 1936, Jackson trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
She performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company — where she starred in the cutting-edge drama “Marat/Sade” directed by Peter Brook — and became one of the biggest British stars of the 1960s and ’70s, winning Oscars for “Women in Love” in 1971 and “A Touch of Class” in 1974.
We’re saddened to hear of Glenda Jackson’s passing.
She was a tour de force in acting & politics, dedicating her life to both. We’re proud her extraordinary talent was seen on RSC stages early in her career in ground-breaking productions.
Our thoughts are with Glenda’s family. pic.twitter.com/CSgASCT7YM
— The RSC (@TheRSC) June 15, 2023
On television, she took home two Emmy Awards in 1972 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in “Elizabeth R.” and secured a place in British pop-culture history by playing Cleopatra in a classic sketch on “The Morecambe & Wise Show” in 1971.
“All men are fools,” she proclaimed in what became a famous one-liner, “and what makes them so is seeing beauty like what I have got.”
Glenda Jackson CBE (1936 – 2023) R.I.P pic.twitter.com/mMzo3TPFVd
— Classic British TV (@Classicbritcom) June 15, 2023
In her 50s, Jackson went into politics, winning election to Parliament in 1992. She spent 23 years as a lawmaker under the liberal Labour Party, serving as a minister for transport in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s first government in 1997.
She came to be at odds with Blair over the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying his decision to enter the U.S.-led war without United Nations’ authorization left her “deeply, deeply ashamed.”
“The victims will be as they always are, women, children, the elderly,” Jackson told The Associated Press before the invasion.
Her blunt manner and outspokenness continued throughout her political career and might have helped keep her from high government office.
After former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died in 2013, Jackson railed against her in Parliament, decrying what she claimed was the “heinous social, economic and spiritual damage wreaked upon this country” by the trailblazing leader.
Jackson returned to acting after leaving Parliament in 2015 and had some of her most acclaimed roles, including the title character in Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” It opened at London’s Old Vic in 2016 and later played on Broadway.
She had her first film role in a quarter-century in the 2019 movie “Elizabeth is Missing.” Jackson won a BAFTA award, Britain’s equivalent of an Oscar, for her performance as a woman with Alzheimer’s trying to solve a mystery.
Oscar-winning actress and former MP Glenda Jackson has died aged 87.
Last year, she told @JohnWilson14 that while she was pleased to win two Oscars, she focused on acting over attending award ceremonies.
Watch This Cultural Life on BBC iPlayer: https://t.co/Gs2CedVhOA pic.twitter.com/YBR5EDMisO
— BBC Arts (@bbcarts) June 15, 2023
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said Jackson “leaves a space in our cultural and political life that can never be filled.”
“She played many roles with great distinction, passion and commitment,” he said. “From award-winning actor to campaigner and activist to Labour MP and government minister, Glenda Jackson was always fighting for human rights and social justice.”
Tulip Siddiq, Jackson’s successor as Labour lawmaker for the London seat of Hampstead and Kilburn, said she was “devastated to hear that my predecessor Glenda Jackson has died.”
“A formidable politician, an amazing actress and a very supportive mentor to me. Hampstead and Kilburn will miss you Glenda,” Siddiq wrote on Twitter.
Jackson is survived by her son, Dan Hodges.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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