The daughter of a Liverpool bricklayer, actress and politician Glenda
Jackson was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside. She trained at the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art in London and made her professional stage debut
in Terrence Rattigan's Separate Tables in 1957. She became a leading
member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in films from 1963
onwards. Jackson made her screen debut with a bit part in Lindsay
Anderson’s This
Sporting Life (1963). Soon after, she won an Academy Award for her
sparkling portrayal of Gudrun in Ken
Russell’s controversial adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women
in Love (1969).
In 1971, she was nominated for another Academy Award for her role in
John Schlesinger’s Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1971). Jackson collected her second Oscar for the romantic
comedy A Touch of Class (1973), and was Oscar-nominated once again for
her performances in Hedda (1975). She continued to portray strong-willed
characterizations on stage and screen in both comedies and dramas, such
as the poet Stevie Smith, whom she played first in the theatre and then
on screen in the film Stevie (1978). Later films included Turtle Diary
(1985), Robert Altman’s Beyond Therapy (1985) and Business as
Usual (1986). She followed this with two Ken Russell projects; Salome's
Last Dance (1988) and The Rainbow (1989). Jackson became a Labour MP
in 1992 and retired from acting to commit herself to politics. She was
awarded a CBE in 1978.
