Glenda Jackson death: Oscar-winning actor and former Labour MP dies aged 87

Glenda Jackson, the double Oscar-winning actor and former Labour MP, has died aged 87 after a “brief illness”.

Her agent issued a statement that said Jackson died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London.

“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,” Lionel Larner said.

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

The screen star and former Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1970, for her performance as Gudrun Brangwen in Ken Russell’s adaptation of the DH Lawrence novel, Women in Love.

She won her second Best Actress Oscar three years later for A Touch Of Class, the 1973 romantic comedy about an adulterous couple having an affair. Jackson did not attend the ceremony on either occasion.

Despite her successful career, which also included two Emmy Awards and a Tony, Jackson previously said she never had any interest in the glamorous side of the film industry.

She said she started acting due to “boredom”, after she failed her school certificate and was left with no option but to start working at the age of 16. After joining a friend at the YMCA amateur dramatics society, while she was working at her local Boots store, she went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).

“Listen, I come from a family where if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat. That was the class structure,” she told The Times last year of her childhood in Wirral, Merseyside.

“Somebody said, ‘you should do this professionally’,” she recalled. “I wrote to the only drama school I’d ever heard of, which was Rada. I did the auditions. They said, ‘If we had the money, we’d give you a scholarship. But we haven’t’, and the manager of Boots wrote to Cheshire County Council, which gave me a grant and I went to Rada.”

Jackson gave up acting for politics more than a quarter of a century ago and served as a Labour MP for 23 years.

In 1992, she was elected as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate and served as a junior transport minister from 1997 to 1999 during Sir Tony Blair’s government.

Last year, she criticised the media’s coverage of female politicians while commenting that the sexist culture in the House of Commons was “beginning to crack” but was “by no means equal yet”.

She recalled that Parliament was not welcoming to women when she was voted in during the 1992 general election.

“In a funny kind of way, you’d be surprised if it wasn’t immediately apparent. You expect to be ignored, so you have to be prepared for that,” she told The Big Issue.

Jackson said she had given her maiden speech to a “virtually empty House… but that was okay. Of course it makes you angry, but even that marks you up as ‘woman, failure’.”

“It’s still the case that whatever men do is widely accepted, whereas when the media consider what women do, there’s always an element in the reportage which is critical,” she continued.

“I do think that culture is beginning to crack, but it’s by no means equal yet.”

Jackson stood down as an MP at the 2015 general election and returned to acting. She won a Bafta for best actress in 2019 for her role in Elizabeth Is Missing, which followed the story of a woman suffering from dementia.

Forthcoming film The Great Escaper is inspired by true events, and tells the story of a Second World War veteran who escaped his home in Hove, east Sussex, to attend a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France.

The project marked the first time Jackson had acted alongside Caine since they starred together in The Romantic Englishwoman, 48 years ago.

Additional reporting by Press Association

Glenda Jackson, the double Oscar-winning actor and former Labour MP, has died aged 87 after a “brief illness”.

Her agent issued a statement that said Jackson died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London.

“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,” Lionel Larner said.

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

The screen star and former Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1970, for her performance as Gudrun Brangwen in Ken Russell’s adaptation of the DH Lawrence novel, Women in Love.

She won her second Best Actress Oscar three years later for A Touch Of Class, the 1973 romantic comedy about an adulterous couple having an affair. Jackson did not attend the ceremony on either occasion.

Despite her successful career, which also included two Emmy Awards and a Tony, Jackson previously said she never had any interest in the glamorous side of the film industry.

She said she started acting due to “boredom”, after she failed her school certificate and was left with no option but to start working at the age of 16. After joining a friend at the YMCA amateur dramatics society, while she was working at her local Boots store, she went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).

“Listen, I come from a family where if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat. That was the class structure,” she told The Times last year of her childhood in Wirral, Merseyside.

“Somebody said, ‘you should do this professionally’,” she recalled. “I wrote to the only drama school I’d ever heard of, which was Rada. I did the auditions. They said, ‘If we had the money, we’d give you a scholarship. But we haven’t’, and the manager of Boots wrote to Cheshire County Council, which gave me a grant and I went to Rada.”

Jackson gave up acting for politics more than a quarter of a century ago and served as a Labour MP for 23 years.

In 1992, she was elected as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate and served as a junior transport minister from 1997 to 1999 during Sir Tony Blair’s government.

Last year, she criticised the media’s coverage of female politicians while commenting that the sexist culture in the House of Commons was “beginning to crack” but was “by no means equal yet”.

She recalled that Parliament was not welcoming to women when she was voted in during the 1992 general election.

“In a funny kind of way, you’d be surprised if it wasn’t immediately apparent. You expect to be ignored, so you have to be prepared for that,” she told The Big Issue.

Jackson said she had given her maiden speech to a “virtually empty House… but that was okay. Of course it makes you angry, but even that marks you up as ‘woman, failure’.”

“It’s still the case that whatever men do is widely accepted, whereas when the media consider what women do, there’s always an element in the reportage which is critical,” she continued.

“I do think that culture is beginning to crack, but it’s by no means equal yet.”

Jackson stood down as an MP at the 2015 general election and returned to acting. She won a Bafta for best actress in 2019 for her role in Elizabeth Is Missing, which followed the story of a woman suffering from dementia.

Forthcoming film The Great Escaper is inspired by true events, and tells the story of a Second World War veteran who escaped his home in Hove, east Sussex, to attend a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France.

The project marked the first time Jackson had acted alongside Caine since they starred together in The Romantic Englishwoman, 48 years ago.

Additional reporting by Press Association