My Memories of Glenda Jackson

I am deeply saddened at the passing of actress and politician Glenda Jackson at the age of 87. 

The British born Jackson was, of course, a two-time Academy Award winner earning Best Actress trophies for Women in Love and A Touch of Class in 1970 and 1973. She would also win two Emmy Awards for the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R in 1972. In 2018, a near quarter century absence from the stage, Jackson won a Tony Award for her performance in the revival of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women. 

However, it was on The Muppet Show where Jackson first grabbed my attention. In a 1980 appearance, she played a possessed pirate who took over the show and did very nasty things to poor Kermit. A dozen years later, Jackson was elected to the British House of Commons as a Labour MP. It was in this role that I would become personally acquainted with her. 

In 1995, I spent a semester in London working as a parliamentary intern. My first assignment was with Tessa Jowell who would later hold several ministerial portfolios in both the Blair and Brown Labour governments. Directly opposite Jowell's office was none other than Glenda Jackson. 

Naturally, I wanted to speak with her. However, parliamentary interns were (and probably still are) considered lower forms of life than amoebas. So I refrained from doing so. As it turned out, it was Glenda who broke the ice. One day she wandered over to Jowell's office and spoke with her assistant Andy Burnham (who also later became a Labour MP and cabinet minister and is now the Mayor of Greater Manchester). Glenda asked Andy, "Do we have a foreigner in our midst?" To which I chimed that I was a Canadian. "Ah, a colonial no less."

I had the opportunity to recount this anecdote in Glenda's presence in April 2019 when she appeared at the 92nd Street Y in New York City and did so to uproarious laughter. Alas she did not remember the incident in question. I could hardly blame her. Those events had occurred nearly a quarter century earlier. 

Glenda was in New York starring in the Broadway production of King Lear. I had bought tickets to see the show that June, but the show's run ended prematurely. Alas the opportunity to see Glenda on stage did not come to pass.

Yet I will always remember the lovely moments with Glenda in the Parliamentary Tea Room as well as in and around Derby Gate. I recall one day when Glenda was making photocopies and I showed her a personal ad from The Globe and Mail which read, "Glenda Jackson would love me!!!" This was a good for a laugh. 

As mentioned before, parliamentary interns were not looked upon nicely by MPs and Lords along with many of their staff. Glenda was an exception to that rule. Notwithstanding her standing as an actress and celebrity, she was among the kindest people I met during my short time across the pond and is a major reason why I look at my time there with such fondness. R.I.P.