Glenda Jackson Defends Actors in Politics: “We Have the Right to Voice Our Opinions”
Glenda Jackson won two Oscars in the 1970s, first in 1971 for Women in Love and then just three year..
Glenda Jackson won two Oscars in the 1970s, first in 1971 for Women in Love and then just three years later for A Touch of Class. But she didnt make it to either ceremony; “I was working. I was blessed,“ she remembered on this weeks Little Gold Men podcast. “I got jobs.”
The one time she did make it to the ceremony, it was as a presenter, and only because she happened to be in town with her global tour of Hedda Gabler. “It was a very different Oscars from the one they have now. It was extremely efficient, but it was much, much quieter in a sense,” she said. “I have a standout memory of being introduced, I think, by Frank Sinatra. And I was sitting I think next to Raquel Welch in the front row, and she needed a safety pin for some reason.”
Jackson won two Emmys during the same period that she won her Oscars, and went on to be nominated for three Tony Awards in the 1980s. So, how does an actress follow up that kind of incredible winning streak? In Jacksons case, she turned to politics. In 1992, she became a member of Britains House of Parliament, delivering fiery speeches against Tony Blair and, upon her death in 2013, Margaret Thatcher. It was Thatcher, she told Little Gold Mens Mike Hogan, who inspired her to enter politics in the first place. “Anything I could have done that was legal to get rid of Margaret Thatcher and her government, I would have done. My country was being destroyed before my very eyes. I mean, Ive always been a member of the Labour Party, but her policies—everything I had been taught were vices, she told me were virtues. Greed wasnt greed, it was a doughty self-reliance. Selfishness wasnt selfishness, it was prioritizing your family. I had been raised to believe there was such a thing as a society.”
When she retired from politics in 2015, Jackson went right back to the stage, starring as King Lear on the West End and, currently, as one of the titular Three Tall Women in the current revival of the Edward Albee play. The play is a classic, and Jackson had worked with Albee before in a production of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? But it was actually her co-stars—Laurie Metcalf and Alison Pill—who drew her to the production. “One of the major things for me was that I would be working with two other actresses, and thats a very unusual experience for an actress. Usually if theres one decent part, if youve got it, then theres no other actresses around. And to have actresses of the caliber of the two that Im working with is just bonus beyond belief.”
The production also gave Jackson the opportunity to reunite with a former co-star who also knows a thing or two about actors turning to politics. Cynthia Nixon, who played Honey to Jacksons Martha in that production of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, visited Jackson backstage amid her many duties in her campaign to be governor of New York. “I offered to bang on doors if she needs a helping hand,“ Jackson said of Nixon. “I only have Monday off, so I wouldnt be much use to her.”
The criticism Nixon is now facing, as an actress turning to politics, is a familiar refrain for Jackson. “Celebrities are always criticized in elections in my country, whichever political party it is. This is something that was always raised with me. If weve got the right to vote, we have the right to voice our opinions.”
Listen to this weeks Little Gold Men podcast above for more from Jackson, who is nominated for best leading actress in a play at this years Tony Awards, which will be held June 10. Also on this weeks podcast: Richard Lawson calls in from Cannes for another update on the buzz from the festival, and Vanity Fairs film critic K. Austin Collins joins for the first time to talk to Joanna Robinson and Katey Rich about the surprising pleasures of Solo: A Star Wars Story. You can also find Little Gold Men on Apple Podcasts, where you can leave a rating and a review.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Katey RichKatey Rich is the deputy editor of VanityFair.com.
