Glenda Jackson Dies: Two-Time Oscar Winner Was 87

Glenda Jackson, the two-time Best Actress Oscar winner and former British politician, has died. She was 87.

Her passing was confirmed by her agent, Lionel Larner, who said in a statement, “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side.”

The statement continued, “She recently completed filming The Great Escaper in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”

Born on May 9, 1936, in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, Jackson made her professional stage debut in Ted Willis’s Doctor in the House. She would go on to appear in various stage productions before making her film debut in a bit part in This Sporting Life (1963).

Jackson’s on-screen roles continued from there, with her starring role in Ken Russell’s Women in Love (1969) leading to her first Academy Award for Best Actress. Her second Academy Award came for her role in Melvin Frank’s romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973).

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On television, Jackson played Queen Elizabeth I in the BBC’s serial Elizabeth R (1971), having her head shaved for the role. The series, which aired on PBS in the U.S., won her two Primetime Emmy Awards for her performance.

Jackson retired from acting in 1991 in order to focus on her political career, where she was an MP for the Labour Party in the U.K. In 1997, she was appointed as a junior minister in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government. She remained as an MP until 2015, after which she retired from politics and returned to acting following a 23 year absence.

She returned to the stage, appearing in William Shakespeare’s King Lear at the Old Vic Theatre in London and the Broadway revival of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, for which she won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Her most recent on-screen work came in the 2019 television drama Elizabeth Is Missing, based on the novel of the same name by Emma Healey. Jackson won the Best Actress BAFTA TV Award and International Emmy Award for her role.