Glenda Jackson, Actress and Former Labour MP, Dead at 87

Glenda Jackson, the award-winning actress and former Labour MP, has died. She was 87. 

Jackson’s agent Lionel Larner confirmed her death in a statement on Thursday.

“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 read. 

Larner added in a personal note: “Today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses and I have lost a best friend of over fifty years.”

Jackson is survived by a son and grandson, according to BBC. A cause of death wasn’t immediately provided.

Jackson — who was born in Cheshire, England in 1936 — had a storied career that spanned the entertainment and political worlds.

She won two Academy Awards in the 1970s for Women In Love and A Touch Of Class, two Emmys for Elizabeth R in 1971 and best actress in a play in 2018 when she returned to Broadway in a revival of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women.

Jackson, who also scored a BAFTA in 2019, featured in other notable roles, including Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Hedda (1975), The Incredible Sarah (1976) and Hopscotch (1980). Some of her other major theater roles included Rose (1981), Macbeth (1988) and King Lear (2019).

In 1992, Jackson turned her career to politics, becoming a Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate in the 1992 general election. Her political career lasted until 2015.

Jackson’s agent said in his statement that she had recently completed filming the movie The Great Escaper alongside Michael Caine.

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Tulip Siddiq, Jackson’s successor as Labour lawmaker for the London seat of Hampstead and Kilburn, said in a statement on Twitter that 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 continued.

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