Oscar winner and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson dies aged 87

Oscar winner and former Labour politician Glenda Jackson has died at the age of  87.

She “died peacefully” after a brief illness, her agent Lionel Larner said.

“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.”

Born in 1936 in Birkenhead, in Wirral, Jackson was the daughter of a bricklayer and left school at the age of 16 after she failed her school certificate. A friend invited her to join the YMCA amateur dramatics society while she was working at her local Boots store. She went on to train at RADA and subsequently found work an actress and stage manager in repertory theatres. Her career took off in the early 1970s.

She won the best actress Oscar in 1970 and 1973 for Women In Love and A Touch of Class, respectively.

Glenda Jackson as Princess Elizabeth standing in the rain at the Tower of London (1971)

A touching portrayal of dementia-sufferer Maud in Elizabeth Is Missing in 2019

The prime of her career also saw her win a BAFTA for Best Actress for Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971) and two Primetime Emmy Awards for the BBC series Elizabeth R (1971).

In 1992, Jackson gave up acting to embark on a political career.  That year, she was elected as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate and served as a junior transport minister from 1997 to 1999 during Tony Blair’s government.

She stood down as an MP at the 2015 general election and returned to acting with a Radio 4 adaptation of Émile Zola’s novels titled Émile Zola: Blood, Sex and Money.

In 2019, she won another BAFTA for Best Actress, this time at the television awards, for her portrayal of dementia-sufferer Maud in the BBC drama Elizabeth is Missing.