Glenda Jackson

Glenda Jackson
Jackson in 1971
Born
Glenda May Jackson

(1936-05-09)9 May 1936
Birkenhead, England
Died15 June 2023(2023-06-15) (aged 87)
Blackheath, London, England
Alma materRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupations
  • Actress
  • politician
Years active
  • 1957–1991
  • 2015–2023 (as actress)
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Roy Hodges
(m. 1958; div. 1976)
ChildrenDan Hodges
AwardsFull list
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport
In office
6 May 1997 – 29 July 1999
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byJohn Bowis
Succeeded byKeith Hill
Member of Parliament
for Hampstead and Kilburn
In office
9 April 1992 – 30 March 2015
Preceded byGeoffrey Finsberg
Succeeded byTulip Siddiq

Dame Glenda May Jackson DBE (9 May 1936 – 15 June 2023) was an English actress and politician. Over the course of her distinguished career she received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award. A member of the Labour Party, she served continuously as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 23 years – for Hampstead and Highgate from 1992 to 2010, and then, following boundary changes, for Hampstead and Kilburn from 2010 to 2015.

Jackson won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for the romance films Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973), but she did not appear in person to collect either due to work commitments.[2] She also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). Her other notable films include Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Hedda (1975), The Incredible Sarah (1976), House Calls (1978), Stevie (1978) and Hopscotch (1980). She won two Primetime Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the BBC series Elizabeth R (1971). She received both the BAFTA Award and International Emmy Award for her performance in Elizabeth Is Missing (2019).

She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and made her Broadway theatre debut in Marat/Sade (1966). She received five Laurence Olivier Award nominations for her West End theatre roles in Stevie (1977), Antony and Cleopatra (1979), Rose (1980), Strange Interlude (1984) and King Lear (2016), the last being her first role after a 25-year absence from acting, which she reprised on Broadway in 2019. On Broadway, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in the revival of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women (2018) and received nominations for her work in Marat/Sade (1966), Rose (1981), Strange Interlude (1985), and Macbeth (1988).

Jackson transitioned her career to politics from 1992 to 2015, and was elected MP for Hampstead and Highgate at the 1992 general election. She was a junior transport minister from 1997 to 1999 during the first Blair ministry; she later became critical of Tony Blair. After constituency boundary changes, she represented Hampstead and Kilburn from 2010. At the 2010 general election, her majority of 42 votes, confirmed after a recount, was the narrowest margin of victory in Great Britain.[3][4] Jackson stood down at the 2015 general election and returned to acting.

  1. ^ "Glenda Jackson". The Film Programme. 6 July 2007. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. ^ "BBC Four – This Cultural Life, Series 2, Glenda Jackson". BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  3. ^ Andy Bloxom (7 May 2010). "General Election 2010: the 10 closest battles". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  4. ^ Payne, Sebastian (25 April 2014). "The 2015 battleground: the UK's top 10 most marginal seats". The Spectator. Retrieved 21 June 2023.