Glenda Jackson was a British actress who won Academy Awards for Best Actress for her performances in “Women in Love” and “A Touch of Class” before being elected to Parliament.
- Died: June 15, 2023 (Who else died on June 15?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in London after a short illness at the age of 87.
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Glenda Jackson’s legacy
Jackson was one of only 24 actors to win the coveted Triple Crown of Acting: an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. She was also the most recent Triple Crown winner, having won her first and only Tony in 2018 for starring in the Broadway revival of “Three Tall Women” after leaving the movie industry for her political career.
After Jackson began her career on stage and in small TV roles, the first of her major awards came in 1970 when she won an Oscar for her role in “Women in Love.” Just three years later, she won again for “A Touch of Class.” Jackson was also nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in 1971 for “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and in 1975 for “Hedda.” She played Queen Elizabeth I twice, on the big screen in “Mary, Queen of Scots” and in the BBC TV miniseries “Elizabeth R,” for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award when it aired in the U.S. on PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre.” In 1978, she was named a Commander of the British Empire.
Jackson’s other movies included “Marat/Sade,” “Stevie,” and “King of the Wind,” her final big screen performance before pivoting to a political career. A member of the center-left Labour Party, she was elected to Parliament in 1992, representing Hampstead and Highgate (later, Hampstead and Kilbourne). Later in the 1990s, Jackson served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Transport. She continued serving in Parliament through 2015, when she chose not to run again.
After her political career, Jackson returned to acting on both stage and screen. Among her notable later roles was a turn as the title character in “King Lear” at London’s Old Vic Theatre, impressing audiences and critics with her gender-reversed performance. She reprised the role on Broadway shortly after winning her Tony for “Three Tall Women.” In 2018, her performance in the TV movie “Elizabeth Is Missing” as a woman with Alzheimer’s disease earned her a BAFTA Award. Jackson’s final performance came in the to-be-released movie “The Great Escaper,” opposite Michael Caine.
Jackson on her return to acting
“I remember when I first went back on stage. I’d done some radio. I said to a friend of mine, ‘I’m scared to death I won’t know how to do it.’ And she said, ‘Don’t be absurd, it’s like riding a bicycle—you never forget,’ and there’s an element of truth in that.” —from a 2021 interview for Vogue
Tributes to Glenda Jackson
Full obituary: The New York Times
