Biography and filmography

Glenda Jackson

Glenda May Jackson CBE (9 May 1936, Birkenhead, Cheshire – 15 June 2023) was an English actress and politician. She was one of the few artists to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having won two Academy Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. She was made a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1978.

She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her roles in Women in Love (1970) and A Touch of Class (1973). She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). Her other notable roles include Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Hedda (1975), The Incredible Sarah (1976) and Hopscotch (1980). She won two Primetime Emmy Awards for her role as Elizabeth I in the BBC series Elizabeth R (1971). She received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her role in Elizabeth Is Missing (2019).

Jackson studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She made her Broadway debut in Marat/Sade (1966). She received five Laurence Olivier Award nominations for her West End roles in Stevie (1977), Antony and Cleopatra (1979), Rose (1980), Strange Interlude (1984) and King Lear (2016), the later being her first role after a 25 year absence from acting, which she reprised on Broadway in 2019. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in the revival of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women (2018).

Jackson took a hiatus from acting to take on a career in politics from 1992 to 2015, and was elected as the Labour Party MP for Hampstead and Highgate in the 1992 general election. She served as a junior transport minister from 1997 to 1999 during the government of Tony Blair, later becoming critical of Blair. After constituency boundary changes, she represented Hampstead and Kilburn from 2010. At the 2010 general election, her majority of 42 votes, confirmed after a recount, was the narrowest of that parliament. Jackson stood down at the 2015 general election and returned to acting.

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Movies (60)

Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders

2025 · Archive

El Último Escape

2023 · Irene Jordan

Amores Prohibidos

2021 · Jane (Older)

Las Madres de la Revolución

2021 · Narrator (voice)

Elizabeth está Desaparecida

2019 · Maud Palmer Horsham

Miranda: Morecambe & Wise and Me

2017 · Self

Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil

2012 · Self

Eric & Ernie: Behind the Scenes

2011 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Brook by Brook

2002 · Self

The Best of Morecambe and Wise

2001 · Self (archive footage)

A Wave of Passion: The Life of Alexandra Kollontai

1994 · Alexandra Kollontai (voice)

The Secret Life of Arnold Bax

1992 · Harriet Cohen

The House of Bernarda Alba

1991 · Bernarda

A Murder of Quality

1991 · Alisa Brimley

King of the Wind

1990 · Queen Caroline

The Real Story of Humpty Dumpty

1990 · Glitch the Witch (voice)

The Rainbow

1989 · Anna Brangwen

Doombeach

1989 · Miss Ricketts

Salome's Last Dance

1988 · Herodias / Lady Alice

Beyond Therapy

1987 · Charlotte

Business as Usual

1987 · Babs Flynn

Turtle Diary

1985 · Neaera Duncan

Sakharov

1984 · Yelena Bonner

The Return of the Soldier

1983 · Margaret Grey

Giro City

1982 · Sophie

Let Poland Be Poland

1982 · Self - Co-Host

The Patricia Neal Story

1981 · Patricia Neal

Blood Donors

1981 · Self

Hopscotch

1980 · Isobel

HealtH

1980 · Isabella Garnell

Lost and Found

1979 · Tricia

The Class Of Miss MacMichael

1978 · Conor MacMichael

Stevie

1978 · Stevie Smith

House Calls

1978 · Ann Atkinson

Nasty Habits

1977 · Sister Alexandra

The Incredible Sarah

1976 · Sarah Bernhardt

Hedda

1975 · Hedda

The Romantic Englishwoman

1975 · Elizabeth

The Maids

1975 · Solange

The Tempter

1974 · Sister Geraldine

A Touch of Class

1973 · Vicki Allessio

Bequest to the Nation

1973 · Lady Hamilton

The Triple Echo

1972 · Alice Charlesworth

Mary, Queen of Scots

1971 · Queen Elizabeth

The Boy Friend

1971 · Rita Monroe

Sunday Bloody Sunday

1971 · Alex Greville

The Music Lovers

1971 · Antonina 'Nina' Milyukova

The Pacemakers: Glenda Jackson

1971 · Self

Women in Love

1969 · Gudrun Brangwen

Negatives

1968 · Vivien

Let's Murder Vivaldi

1968 · Julie

Tell Me Lies

1968 · Glenda

Which of These Two Ladies Is He Married To?

1967 · Claire Foley

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade

1967 · Charlotte Corday