Glenda Jackson, Academy Award and Emmy Winner, Dead at 87
Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar- and Emmy Award-winning actress who later made the transition to politics, has died. She was 87 years old.
In a statement, Jackson’s agent Lionel Lerner told our sister site Deadline that she “died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London… after a brief illness with her family at her side.” A specific cause of death was not disclosed.
Jackson’s career spanned seven decades, during which she won a pair of Academy Awards (for 1970’s Women in Love and 1973’s A Touch of Class), two Emmys (for her role as Elizabeth I in the 1971 BBC miniseries Elizabeth R) and a Tony (for the 2018 revival of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women). Across the pond, she took home the BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role for 1971’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, and the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for the 2019 TV-movie Elizabeth Is Missing — a role that also earned her the honor of TVLine’s Performer of the Week upon its Stateside debut in January 2021.
Jackson hit pause on her acting career in 1992 and took up a second career in British politics. She was elected as the Labour Party MP for Hampstead and Highgate in the 1992 general election, and served as a Junior Transport Minister from 1997 to 1999, under Prime Minister Tony Blair. She retired from politics in 2015 and returned to acting, appearing in the above-mentioned Elizabeth Is Missing and the 2021 movie Mothering Sunday.
Prior to her death, she completed production on the forthcoming film The Great Escaper, opposite Michael Caine. A release date has not yet been announced.
RIP In memory of a great talent.
Always loved her immense talent. No one will ever equal her monumental Elizabeth I.
A multi-faceted actress & woman. So talented. I will never forget her wonderfully captivating performance in Elizabeth R. God speed Your Majesty.
I am so sorry to hear about this. So many great performances. I had the privilege of seeing her on Broadway in “Strange Interlude” which I believe was also filmed for TV. RIP
SENDING MY CONDOLENCES, TOO HER FAMILY MEMBERS, VERY SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS, GEORGE KEHOE,
A touch of class. One of my favorite movies. One of the best actresses ever.
She exemplified “a class act”. Her intellect and wit gave us all something to aspire to. She made being bright and powerful an option. Thank you.
Her acting was always very classy and debonair.
I think she is the best Elizabeth 1 that ever played her.
Loved watching Glenda Jackson when she played Queen Elizabeth I in the
“Elizabeth R” series on Public television back in the 1970s. In my opinion, no one did a better job portraying the first Queen Elizabeth than Glenda Jackson and, if my memory serves me correctly, she won an Emmy award for her performance in that role. I never saw either of the two movies for which she won Oscar awards. For me, she will always be remembered as Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I. May she rest in peace!