Glenda Jackson

Dame Glenda May Jackson (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. 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. Jackson stood down at the 2015 general election and returned to acting.