Former lawmaker and Oscar-winning actress Glenda Jackson passed away at the age of 87, according to her agent.
After winning two Oscars for Women in Love and A Touch of Class and being nominated for two more, Jackson rose to fame on a global scale in the 1970s.
Additionally, she played Queen Elizabeth I in the well-known BBC drama Elizabeth Rdot.
She gave up acting to become a Labour MP in north London from 1992 to 2015 because politics had always been important to her.
This included two years serving as an assistant transport minister in Tony Blair's New Labour administration starting in 1997.
Later, she made a comeback to the big screen, winning a Bafta in 2020 for her part in the TV drama Elizabeth Is Missing.
Glenda Jackson, a politician and two-time Academy Award winner, passed away peacefully this morning at her home in Blackheath, London, following a brief illness, according to a statement released by her agent on Thursday.
"She just wrapped up filming on The Great Escaper, in which she starred alongside Michael Caine. ".
From the fields of politics and the arts, tributes were paid.
"Devastated to hear that my predecessor Glenda Jackson has passed away," tweeted Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who now occupies Jackson's former seat.
"A formidable politician, incredible actress, and an incredibly encouraging mentor to me. Glenda, you will be missed in Kilburn and Hampstead. ".
After working for Jackson before becoming an MP herself, Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, recalled the "incredibly kind" politician's "cutting humor" and "general disdain at most things.".
Powell wrote, "She was the epitome of an icon, bridging the worlds of acting and politics with great aplomb.".
She is "a wonderful actress, a committed politician, and a remarkable human being," according to broadcaster and former Conservative MP Gyles Brandreth.
"I treasure our unlikely friendship," he wrote. "We became MPs on the same day in 1992.". She was a truly special, gifted, and caring individual who was born into this world with the intention of changing it for the better. ".
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman described it as "extremely sad news," adding that his thoughts were with her friends and family at this difficult time. ".
Jackson caught the acting bug when she joined a community theater group as a teenager while working at a Boots store close to her home town of Birkenhead, Merseyside.
In 1963, after receiving a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London, she began performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
She gained notoriety on the stage before winning her first Oscar for her portrayal of an independent artist in director Ken Russell's adaptation of DH Lawrence's novel Women in Love.
Three years later, she won her second Academy Award for the romantic comedy "A Touch of Class," in which she portrayed a fashion designer who was involved in a disastrous love affair with a US businessman.
However, she claimed that she was too busy to attend either ceremony.
She said last year on BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life, "All awards are very nice to have. They don't, however, improve you in any way. ".
She gained notoriety for displaying her comedic talents in a cameo role as Cleopatra on the popular Saturday night TV show hosted by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, which led to the role in A Touch of Class.
Working with them was the pinnacle of her career, she said on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, and she meant it.
For the RSC, she also performed a more serious portrayal of the Egyptian queen in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.
She also performed the part of Elizabeth I twice, first for Elizabeth R for which she received an Emmy, and then for Mary, Queen of Scots in 1971, opposite Dame Vanessa Redgrave.
She was nominated for Oscars for her roles in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), in which she played a frustrated office worker caught up in a love triangle, and for Hedda (1975), which was an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.
Among her other roles were those of the English poet Stevie Smith in Stevie and of the legendary actress Patricia Neal in The Patricia Neal Story.
A devoted supporter of Labour, she said she agreed to run for office because she detested the former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the "destruction that her policies has had on human beings.".
Acting and politics were related, she claimed.
She told Desert Island Discs that the best theater is about attempting to uncover and communicate the truth. "Covering up is not the point. Playing games is not the point. Not hiding is the issue. It's not necessary to act in a false manner.
It aims to understand what it means to be a human and the reasons behind our interactions with one another. Additionally, I believe that the best politics also involves seeking the truth.
. "
