Glenda Jackson, a two-time Academy Award-winning actress who also served as a British lawmaker and pursued a second career in politics before making a well-received comeback to stage and cinema in her later years, passed away at age 87. She passed away on Thursday at her London home, according to Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner, following a brief illness. He claimed that she had just wrapped up filming for The Great Escaper, in which she shared a role with Michael Caine.
Glenda Jackson, who was up in a working-class household in Birkhenhead, northwest England, graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1936. One of the biggest British performers of the 1960s and 1970s, she appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company and received two Academy Awards for her roles in Women in Love in 1971 and A Touch of Class in 1974.
She then entered politics and was elected to the House of Commons in 1992. She represented the Labour Party for 23 years and was appointed minister of transport in 1997 under Prime Minister Tony Blair’s first administration.
Jackson and Blair eventually fell out over the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She expressed “deep, deep shame” over Blair’s decision to join the U.S.-led war without UN approval.
“The victims will be as they always are, women, children, the elderly,” she spoke to The Associated Press prior to the invasion.
After leaving Parliament in 2015, Jackson went back to acting and landed some of her most well-known parts, such as the lead in Shakespeare’s King Lear. It debuted in 2016 at London’s Old Vic before playing on Broadway.
The 2019 film Elizabeth is Missing featured her in her first movie role in 25 years. Jackson’s portrayal of an Alzheimer’s patient seeking to unravel a mystery earned her a BAFTA award, the British version of the Oscar.
“A formidable politician, an amazing actress and a very supportive mentor to me. Hampstead and Kilburn will miss you Glenda,” Tulip Siddiq, Jackson’s successor as Labour lawmaker mentioned.
Glenda Jackson is survived Dan Hodges, her son.
