Glenda May Jackson was born on May 9, 1936 in the small town of Birkenhead, located on the opposite bank of the Mersey River from Liverpool. The future actress was born in a working family - Glenda's father was a builder-mason. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Hoylake. After graduating from high school in nearby West Kerby, Glenda worked for several years as a saleswoman, waitress, assistant pharmacist in a pharmacy, in her spare time played in the plays of an amateur troupe. Subsequently, she entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and in 1957 in Worthing, she made her professional debut in Terence Rattigan’s play Behind Separate Tables. In 1963, she joined the troupe of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, where the following year, as part of the experimental season "Cruelty Theatre", under the leadership of the famous director Peter Brook, she took the stage as Charlotte Corde in the play Marat Garden. This role was the first notable achievement in the acting career of Glenda Jackson. In the same play in 1965, the actress first played on Broadway.
In addition to the plays of modern authors, she also successfully performed in the classical repertoire, playing among other roles Bellamira in The Maltese Jew by Christopher Marlowe (1964, Oldwich Theatre), Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1965, Royal Shakespeare Theatre), Masha in Chekhov's Three Sisters (1967, Royal Court Theatre). Glenda Jackson first appeared on screen in a cameo role in Lindsay Anderson’s social drama This Is Sports Life (1963). A few years later, the actress played Charlotte Corde again, this time in Peter Brook’s film Marat Garden (1967). Real success came to her after she starred as the emancipated artist Gudrun in the adaptation of David Herbert Lawrence’s novel Women in Love (1969) directed by Ken Russell. This picture earned her an Oscar as the best actress and nominations at the British Academy of Film and Television and the Golden Globe. Soon she again won critical acclaim and a wide audience, playing the English Queen Elizabeth I first in the television production Queen Elizabeth (1971), then in the historical drama Mary, Queen of Scotland (1971, dir. Charles Gerrett). Glenda Jackson's next notable film work was Alex Greville, a single woman forced to share her bisexual lover with another man in John Schlesinger's psychological drama Sunday, Cursed Sunday (1971). No less successfully she proved herself in the comedy genre, in the role of fashion designer Vicki, who begins an affair with a married businessman in the film “Like in the best houses” (1973, dir. Melvin Frank). For this role, she was again awarded the Oscar. By that time, Jackson already had a steady reputation as an intellectual actress with extraordinary potential. Her heroines, as a rule, were distinguished by an independent character, were decisive, while maintaining sensuality and charm. In the mid-seventies, the career of the actress was replenished with such roles as the wife of the writer Elizabeth Fielding in the psychological drama "Romantic Englishwoman" (1975, dir. Joseph Lowsey), trying to manipulate the fates of people close to her, the proud and independent Gedda Gabler in the film "Gedda" (1975, dir. Trevor Nunn, based on the play of Henrik Ibsen), the famous French actress Sarah Bernard in the biographical film "The Incred Sarah" (1976, directed by Richard Fleischer) and the nun-intrigan in the film "Hintrigian Habits" (Michael). In 1978, actress Glenda Jackson was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Starting to work with director Ken Russell in 1969 in “Women in Love”, she subsequently starred in his films “Music Lovers” (1971), “Salome’s Last Dance” (1988) and “Rainbow” (1989).
In the eighties, she continued to play on the theater stage, having gained considerable success in such plays as “Rose” by Andrew Davis (1980), “Big and Small” by Boto Strauss (1983), “Strange Interlude” by Eugene O’Neill (1983) and “Wil Shakespeare” (1988). She performed three times on Broadway and each time was awarded a Tony Award nomination for best actress in a leading role. In 1983, in Hoyleik, where Jackson spent his childhood, opened a theater bearing her name. Her further popularity was promoted by her participation in the American television series The Story of Patricia Neal (1981, Anthony Harvey, Anthony Page), in which she played the wife of the famous writer Roald Dahl. The actress also starred in The Return of the Soldier (1982, Alan Bridges), The Turtle Diary (1985, John Irvine) and Untreatable (1986, Robert Altman). After her first failed attempt, in 1992 she ran for parliament from the London counties of Hampstead and Highgate and won a seat in the House of Commons. Having become a member of Parliament, Glenda Jackson completely abandoned her acting career, focusing on socio-political activities. In 1997, she joined Tony Blair's Labour government as a junior minister in charge of transport communications, and three years later ran unsuccessfully for mayor of London. Currently, he remains an active member of the Labour Party, representing the interests of its most radical wing.
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