Glenda Jackson left acting for politics—and then returned
The actress acclaimed on stage and in film died on June 15th, aged 87
Asked what her greatest or her best role was, Glenda Jackson’s reaction was usually a snort or a sigh. Was it Gudrun in “Women in Love” in 1969, blithely doing her amorous eurhythmics in front of a herd of cows? Was it Elizabeth R in the TV series in 1971, an imperious mask of shaven head and white paint? Or was it the asylum patient playing Charlotte Corday in “Marat/Sade” in 1967, falling dazed to her knees to sing a song to Marat, before tenderly contemplating the knife with which she would kill him?
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Her working life”
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