Glenda Jackson: Fierce and Singular to the Very End
Glenda Jackson, the iconic actor and politician, has died at 87. With Tim Teeman she spoke candidly about mortality, awards, politics, acting, sexism—and meeting Fred Astaire.
The idea of dying while at work, on stage, seemed “pretentious,” the actor Glenda Jackson once told this reporter, laughing. It reminded her of the story of Laurence Olivier saying to fellow actor Sybil Thorndike that he thought he was going to die during a performance.
“One way to see it is that it’s a wonderful way to go,” said Jackson. “The other is: how unprofessional.” She laughed. “I prefer to go with the latter, I bloody do.”
As it was, Jackson died Thursday at home in Blackheath, southeast London, aged 87, after a brief illness with her family at her side. Her agent Lionel Larner said she had recently completed filming The Great Escaper, alongside Michael Caine.