By JILL LAWLESS (Associated Press)
LONDON (AP) — Glenda Jackson, a two-time Academy Award-winning performer who had a second profession in politics as a British lawmaker earlier than an acclaimed late-life return to stage and display, has died at age 87.
Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner stated she died Thursday at her house in London after a brief sickness. He stated she had just lately accomplished filming “‘The Great Escaper,” by which she co-starred with 90-year-old Michael Caine.
Born right into a working-class household 1936 in Birkhenhead, northwest England, Jackson skilled on the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She carried out with the Royal Shakespeare Company — the place she starred within the cutting-edge drama “Marat/Sade” directed by Peter Brook — and have become one of many largest British stars of the Sixties and 70s, profitable two Academy Awards, for “Women in Love” in 1971 and “A Touch of Class” in 1974.
On tv, she took house two Emmy Awards in 1972 for her efficiency as Queen Elizabeth I in “Elizabeth R.,” and secured a spot in British pop-culture historical past by enjoying Cleopatra in a traditional sketch on “The Morecambe & Wise Show” in 1971. “All men are fools,” she proclaimed in what turned a well-known one-liner, “and what makes them so is seeing beauty like what I have got.”
In her 50s Jackson went into politics, profitable election to Parliament in 1992. She spent 23 years as a Labour Party lawmaker, serving as a minister for transport in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s first authorities in 1997.
She got here to be at odds with Blair over the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She stated Blair’s choice to enter the U.S.-led battle with out United Nations’ authorization left her “deeply, deeply ashamed.”
“The victims will be as they always are, women, children, the elderly,” she instructed The Associated Press earlier than the invasion.
Jackson’s blunt method and outspokenness continued all through her political profession, and should have helped preserve her from excessive authorities workplace. After former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died in 2013, she eschewed politeness in regards to the lifeless to rail in Parliament towards the “heinous social, economic and spiritual damage wreaked upon this country” by the late chief.
Jackson returned to performing after leaving Parliament in 2015 and had a few of her most acclaimed roles, together with the title character in Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” It opened at London’s Old Vic in 2016 and later performed on Broadway.
She had her first movie position in a quarter-century within the 2019 film “Elizabeth is Missing.” Jackson received a BAFTA award, Britain’s equal of an Oscar, for her efficiency as a girl with Alzheimer’s attempting to resolve a thriller.
Director Oliver Parker, who just lately labored with Jackson on upcoming film “The Great Escaper,” stated the staff was “shocked and deeply saddened” at her demise.
“She had such fierce intelligence, such passion, and fearlessness,” Parker stated. “It is hard to believe that it was less than a month ago that we screened the finished film for her and Michael (Caine) — she was as feisty and vibrant as ever and we will treasure the memory of that emotional and happy day.”
Caine stated it was “as wonderful an experience this time as it was 50 years ago,” when the 2 final labored collectively.
“Glenda was one of our greatest movie actresses,” he stated. “I shall miss her.”
Labour Party chief Keir Starmer stated Jackson “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 stated. “From award-winning actor to campaigner and activist to Labour MP and government minister, Glenda Jackson was always fighting for human rights and social justice.”
Tulip Siddiq, Jackson’s successor as Labour lawmaker for the London seat of Hampstead and Kilburn, stated she was “devastated to hear that my predecessor Glenda Jackson has died.”
“A formidable politician, an amazing actress and a very supportive mentor to me. Hampstead and Kilburn will miss you Glenda,” Siddiq wrote on Twitter.
Jackson is survived by her son, Dan Hodges.
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An earlier model of this story gave incorrect dates for Jackson’s Academy Award victories. They had been in 1971 and 1974, not 1970 and 1973.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”