'Glenda May Jackson',
CBE, (born
9 May,
1936) is a two-time
Academy Award-winning
British actress and
politician, currently
Labour Member of Parliament for the constituency of
Hampstead and Highgate in the
London Borough of Camden.
Personal life
She was born in
Birkenhead,
The Wirral,
Cheshire, across the
River Mersey from
Liverpool, into a working-class family, and once worked in a
Boots pharmacy store.
She has one son by her ex-husband, Roy Hodges.
Acting career
Having studied acting at
RADA, Jackson made her professional stage debut in
Terence Rattigan's ''
Separate Tables'' in 1957, and her film debut in ''
This Sporting Life'' in
1963. Subsequently a member of the
Royal Shakespeare Company, she worked for director
Peter Brook in several productions, including of
Peter Weiss' ''
Marat/Sade'' as
Charlotte Corday. Jackson also appeared in the film version.
Fame came with Jackson's starring role in the controversial ''
Women in Love'' (1969) for which she won her first
Academy Award for Best Actress, and another controversial role as Tchaikovsky's nymphomaniac wife in
Ken Russell's ''
The Music Lovers'' added to her image of being prepared to do almost anything for her art. She confirmed this by having her head shaved in order to play Queen
Elizabeth I of England in the
BBC's
1971 blockbuster serial, ''
Elizabeth R''. Her portrayal of Elizabeth I is considered unparalled in accuracy by Elizabethan scholars. In the same year, she also appeared in a BBC ''
Morecambe and Wise'' Show, playing
Cleopatra in a comedy sketch which is generally recognised as one the funniest sequences in British TV history.
Filmmaker
Melvin Frank watched this and saw her comedic potential and offered her the lead female role in his next project. She earned a second
Academy Award for Best Actress for this particular comic role in ''
A Touch of Class'' (
1973), and
Eric and Ernie apparently sent her a telegram saying: 'Stick with us kid, and we'll get you a third!'. She also portrayed Queen Elizabeth in a film about the life of
Mary, Queen of Scots and she has been recognised as one of Britain's leading actresses. In 1978, she was made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Until recently, a theatre and arts academy in Borough Road, Birkenhead was named after her. It has been demolished by Wirral Council and replaced with flats.
Political career
She retired from acting in order to enter the
House of Commons in the
1992 general election as the Labour MP for
Hampstead and Highgate. After the
1997 general election, she was appointed a junior minister in the
government of
Prime Minister,
Tony Blair, with responsibility for
London Transport, a post she resigned before an attempt to be nominated as the
Labour Party candidate for the election of the first
Mayor of London in 2000. The nomination was eventually won by
Frank Dobson, who lost the election to
Ken Livingstone, the independent candidate. In the
2005 general election, she received 14,615 votes, representing 38.29% of the votes cast in the
constituency.
As a high profile backbencher she has become a regular critic of Blair over his plans to introduce
top-up fees. She also called for him to resign following the Judicial Enquiry by
Lord Hutton in
2003 surrounding the reasons for going to war in
Iraq and the death of government adviser Dr.
David Kelly. Jackson is generally considered to be a traditional left-winger, often disagreeing with the dominant
Blairite governing centre-right faction in the
Labour Party.
By October 2005, her problems with Blair's leadership swelled to a point where she threatened to challenge the Prime Minister as a
stalking horse candidate in a leadership contest if he didn't stand down within a reasonable amount of time. On
31 October,
2006, Jackson was one of 12 Labour MPs to back
Plaid Cymru and the
Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the
Iraq War.
[1]
Her constituency boundaries will change dramatically at the next election. Gospel Oak and Highgate wards will become part of Holborn & St Pancras, and the new Hampstead & Kilburn ward will cross the border into Brent to include Brondesbury, Kilburn and Queens Park wards (from the old Brent East and Brent South seats). It is not yet known whether she intends to stand again.
Filmography
Notes
1. Labour MPs who rebelled on Iraq
External links
★
★
Guardian Unlimited Politics — Ask Aristotle: Glenda Jackson
★
TheyWorkForYou.com — Glenda Jackson
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