Oscar-winning actress and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson has died aged 87 after a 'brief illness'.
In a statement, her agent Lionel Larner announced the sad news as he 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.
“She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”
Glenda was a Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate and then Hampstead and Kilburn from 1992 right up until 2015, when she stood down.
Aside from her political career, she was also an award winning actress, scooping two Emmy awards.
Glenda appeared in 1969 Oscar-winning drama Women in Love, alongside Oliver Reed.
She twice played Queen Elizabeth I but also famously appeared alongside “utter pros” Morecambe and Wise.
Before her death, Glenda admitted she wasn't sentimental about her career but is happy to fight for women in male-dominated industries, writes The Mirror.
She said: “Every time I finished a job I was convinced I was never going to work again, but it’s an overcrowded profession and women are not prioritised.
“I remember wondering if I’d be able to afford to pay Friday’s milk bills. I came from working class and it was very simple – if you didn’t work you didn’t eat. I will keep on doing those roles as long as they get offered to me.”
In one of her last roles on screen, Glenda played a dementia sufferer in acclaimed TV film Elizabeth Is Missing.
Glenda played a character called Maud, who struggles to make sense of her friend Elizabeth’s disappearance.
The trauma of dementia and how it effects families was an issue which Glenda said political parties must unite to tackle.
During her 23 years as MP, Glenda visited people’s homes and saw families effected by the illness which helped her portray Maud, which went on to earn her an Emmy and a BAFTA.
However, she previously told the Sunday Mirror that she wouldn’t be surprised if she, too, got dementia.
She added: “I don’t worry but I do find I can’t remember names sometimes. I went into the kitchen half an hour ago and I stood at the door and thought, ‘Why am I here?’”
The politician lived in a granny flat in South London, with journalist son Dan Hodges, his wife and their son living upstairs and fetching her meals.
In 2021, Glenda said that she was on the waiting list for treatment which had been delayed since the pandemic. She needed a new hip after breaking hers 12 years ago.
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