Glenda Jackson

Glenda Jackson (born May 9, 1936) is a British actress and politician. She was born at Birkenhead near Liverpool, into a working-class family, and it is a well-known piece of trivia that she once worked in Boots the Chemist[?]. Having studied acting at RADA, Jackson made her professional stage debut in Rattigan's Separate Tables in 1957 and her film debut in This Sporting Life in 1963.

Fame came with Jackson's starring role in the controversial Women in Love (1969), 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. Having accumulated a second Oscar for her role in A Touch of Class (1973) and been recognised as one of Britain's leading actresses, she abandoned her acting career at the height of her fame in order to become a Labour MP. She served for a while as a junior minister in the British government, then resigned to make a failed attempt to win the Labour nomination for the post of Mayor of London.

External Link

• Official website of her mayoral campaign (http://www.glendajackson.co.uk/)