(AP) LONDON — Glenda Jackson, a two-time Academy Award-winning actress who also served as a British lawmaker and pursued a second political career before making a well-received comeback to stage and cinema in her later years, passed away at age 87.
According to Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner, she passed away on Thursday at her London home following a brief illness. He claimed she had just finished filming “The Great Escaper,” where she had a supporting role alongside Michael Caine, 90.
Jackson received his training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London after being born into a working-class family in Birkenhead, northwest England, in 1936. She participated with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she starred in the avant-garde drama “Marat/Sade” directed by Peter Brook. She became one of the biggest British stars of the 1960s and 1970s and won two Academy Awards for “Women in Love” in 1971 and “A Touch of Class” in 1974.
She won two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in “Elizabeth R.” in 1972, and in 1971, she played Cleopatra in a memorable spoof on “The Morecambe & Wise Show,” cementing her position in British pop culture history. She said in a famous one-liner, “All men are fools, and what makes them so is seeing a beauty like what I have acquired.
Jackson entered politics in her fifties and was elected to the Parliament in 1992. She represented the Labour Party for 23 years and was appointed transport minister in 1997 under Prime Minister Tony Blair’s first administration.
Glenda Jackson, a two-time Academy Award-winning actress.
She and Blair eventually fell out over the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She claimed that Blair’s decision to join the U.S.-led conflict without the UN’s approval had left her feeling “deeply, deeply ashamed.”
Before the invasion, she warned The Associated Press that “the victims will be as they always are, women, children, and the elderly.”
Throughout her political career, Jackson maintained her forthright demeanor and outspokenness, which may have contributed to her exclusion from important government positions. Margaret Thatcher, a previous Conservative Prime Minister, passed away in 2013, and instead of showing respect for the deceased, a member of Parliament railed in Parliament about the “heinous social, economic, and spiritual damage wreaked upon this country” by the late leader.
After leaving Parliament in 2015, Jackson returned to acting and landed some of her most well-known parts, such as the main role in Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” It debuted in 2016 at London’s Old Vic before playing on Broadway.
2019’s “Elizabeth is Missing” featured her in her first movie appearance 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.
The crew was “shocked and deeply saddened” by her passing, according to Oliver Parker, the director of the upcoming film “The Great Escaper,” which Jackson and Parker had just collaborated on.
Parker remarked, “She had such fierce intelligence, such passion, and such fearlessness.” We watched the finished movie for her and Michael Caine less than a month ago, and she was just as enthusiastic and aggressive as ever. We will always cherish the memories of that touching and joyous day.
When the two recently collaborated, Caine remarked that it was “as wonderful an experience this time as it was 50 years ago.”
Glenda was one of our best actresses in films, he noted. I’m going to miss her.
Jackson, according to Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, “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 remarked. Glenda Jackson, a celebrated performer, activist, Labour Party member of Parliament, and government minister, never stopped promoting social and human rights.
As a Labour legislator representing Hampstead and Kilburn in London, Tulip Siddiq, Jackson’s successor expressed her “devastation” at learning of Jackson’s passing.
“A strong politician, excellent performer, and a great mentor to me. Glenda, Hampstead and Kilburn will miss you,” Siddiq tweeted.
Her son Dan Hodges is the only survivor of Jackson.
SOURCE – (AP)
