Glenda Jackson (1936-) b. Birkenhead, Cheshire, England.

The daughter of a Liverpool bricklayer, actress and politician Glenda Jackson was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and made her professional stage debut in Terrence Rattigan’s Separate Tables in 1957. She became a leading member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in films from 1963 onwards. Jackson made her screen debut with a bit part in Lindsay Anderson�s This Sporting Life (1963). Soon after, she won an Academy Award for her sparkling portrayal of Gudrun in Ken Russell�s controversial adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love (1969).

In 1971, she was nominated for another Academy Award for her role in John Schlesinger�s Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). Jackson collected her second Oscar for the romantic comedy A Touch of Class (1973), and was Oscar-nominated once again for her performances in Hedda (1975). She continued to portray strong-willed characterizations on stage and screen in both comedies and dramas, such as the poet Stevie Smith, whom she played first in the theatre and then on screen in the film Stevie (1978). Later films included Turtle Diary (1985), Robert Altman�s Beyond Therapy (1985) and Business as Usual (1986). She followed this with two Ken Russell projects; Salome’s Last Dance (1988) and The Rainbow (1989). Jackson became a Labour MP in 1992 and retired from acting to commit herself to politics. She was awarded a CBE in 1978.