British actor Glenda Jackson, two-time Oscar winner, then left-wing politician, dies at 87

A fabulous actress, I re-watched Elizabeth R recently on iPlayer. Despite her accolades she always said the highlight of her career was working with Morecambe and Wise, and she wasn’t wrong.

Not a bad career for a girl who was working in Woolworth's after leaving school at 15: two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony, and 23 years as a compassionate, eloquent, articulate and humane politician. Such lives are probably impossible in the UK now. A brilliant actress, Rest In Power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtClJYJBj8

Glenda Jackson was wonderful. If you get the chance, check out 'Stevie' (1978), in which she plays the poet Stevie Smith. It deserves to be more widely known. Stevie's poetry is very good too.

She was our local MP for Hampstead. Kind and warm person, with great acting skills. Born on the opposite side of the River Mersey, Birkenhead. A tough place to survive. An amazing journey from there. Another who will be missed.

Glenda was an actress with a commanding presence and with a ferocious dedication to her profession - as Tchaikovsky's young wife she sent chills down my spine, and in her old age she must have been moving as Lear in a performance that I wish I had witnessed. She was a person with clear principles in an unprincipled society and served as a politician of a rare kind, that headlines can only describe her as "left-wing". She was a great Brit who stood up to and called out the cant and corruption that mark and typify her country that became transmogrified into today's right-wing wreck of "Land of Dope and Tory". She's gone now but she'll always be there in all her glory on screen to remind us what a great woman we have lost. RIP

Terrific actress - Awful politician. RIP.

Incredible career. Respect to a great Brit.

A life well lived.

I wasn't aware she had been King Lear. It must have been spellbinding. RIP.

Such lives are probably impossible in the UK now.

Yep, the ladder has been hoisted up.

Working class schools will spend very little energy on drama. No resources, too busy trying to pass Ofsted tests to do any arts subjects. Any from a working class city going to RADA will incur phenomenal debt just from London living costs. I'm sure some valiant folks will be doing it or something similar, but the barrier now is huge.

Arts are now pretty much closed off to middle class and above people, including worst of all (non manufactured) pop music. Working class people on tv now are usually footballers (often berated for being common, like Raheem Sterling or Jack Grealish) or folk on reality tv encouraged to act as charactures of commonness, resulting in derision or worse, sometimes with tragic circumstances for the people involved.

Jackson's politics were equally or further left than Jeremy Corbyn, so there would be no space for her in the 2023 Labour party. Jackson's claims like "I'm here to help the sick, the poor" would see her deselected.

What a great woman. RIP

theResidentToday  10:11 am JST

Terrific actress - Awful politician. RIP.

of course you would say that.

Yes @wallace - Because to me, thats exactly what she was. Why would I sugarcoat it?

Glenda Jackson eh, well I recall her from when I was very little. I remember when she turned to politics and some of the gutter press were mocking her, but she did fine.

She was our local MP for Hampstead. Kind and warm person, with great acting skills. Born on the opposite side of the River Mersey, Birkenhead. A tough place to survive. An amazing journey from there. Another who will be missed.

And you were instrumental in getting her elected, right?

RKL

   She was our local MP for Hampstead. Kind and warm person, with great acting skills. Born on the opposite side of the River Mersey, Birkenhead. A tough place to survive. An amazing journey from there. Another who will be missed.

And you were instrumental in getting her elected, right?

The electoral for Hampstead and Kilburn elected her as their representative. 9 April 1992 – 30 March 2015. Her weekly surgeries were very popular. A figure who made herself available to all the people.

She was a much better actor than the mop-haired gammon that clowned and lied his way into and out of No 10 and, an incomparably more decent and honest politician who eventually could play no further role in the right-wing swamp of Westminster politics.

She has regularly said that the appearance on the Morcambe & Wise show was the height of her career and it was the reason she got the role which led to her second Oscar. She was stunning playing Cleopatra in that skit, showed what great comedic timing she had.

She will be missed.

RIP.

Maybe interesting that one of the finest actors the UK has ever produced became an MP who was actually very direct, straight talking, genuine and not full of s##t. Not too much affectation.

Terrific actress - Awful politician.

You don’t like her politics and that’s fair enough. It’s best to judge MPs on what they deliver for their constituents and their performance at the ballot box. Plenty of crap MPs on both sides of the house.

You must be familiar with this to have made your assessment.

I liked her giving Blair a hard time. There was far too much ‘We finally beat the Tories and what more do you want?’ from the Blair government.

The Iraq War was filth.

I liked her brutal takedown of Thatcher. While the Tory media was fawning over her after her death, Jackson really let rip.

I’m sure you at least respected her for not sugarcoating it.

Glenda: "I see you're looking at the wine list"

Walter: "yes"

Glena: "what wine do you feel like drinking?"

Walter:" I don't know - what's good for this time of day?"

Cute movie

No, I don't @Jimizo - and I could have said what I REALLY thought of her politically and then been shamed by this forum. Saying what she said about Thatcher just after her death which entirely inappropriate timing wise. Did you notice the difference in respect that the older members of the Tory Party gave Tony Benn after his death? It's just the kind of people the hardcore Left Wing are. Not nice. No better than the current Deputy Leader. Now she is just a slur on UK politics.

Quite frankly I don't care what she did for her constituents because I wasn't one of them. I would hope that every MP from every party would do their best for them.

No, I don't @Jimizo - and I could have said what I REALLY thought of her politically and then been shamed by this forum

You said she was ‘awful’. So she was worse than awful?

I honestly didn’t see that. I saw an old-school Labour MP who ripped into Thatcherism and Blairism - both had their failings. Great stuff. The Iraq War was an utter disgrace and deserved to be hammered mercilessly.

Give me that over arse-kissers at PMQs looking for a promotion.

I had no respect for Thatcher, alive or dead. She had the blood of the Belgrano on her hands and handbag. Politicians responsible for so many violent deaths and grieving families deserve no mercy. She was a Pinochet lover and the fascist junta of Argentina was likewise a kosher outfit for her until they attempted to take the Malvinas back from the UK. She launched her special operation to shore up her flagging popularity (an old trick of power-hungry demagogues).

Ha. The 'blood of Belgrano'.. A 'special operation'. OK mate. Whatever. An attempt to rewrite History?

Haha.. The Malvinas. Not in my lifetime.

@Jimizo. No, just 'awful' as a politician. A relic. A dinosaur of the left.

Respectful farewell to Glenda Jackson. Strength and courage to all her loved ones.