Glenda Jackson, British actress turned MP, dies at 87

The British Academy Award-winning actress and former lawmaker Glenda Jackson has died at the age of 87, her agent said on Thursday.

She "died peacefully at her home in Blackheath London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side," agent Lionel Larner told the PA news agency.

"She recently completed filming 'The Great Escaper' in which she co-starred with Michael Caine," Larner said.

Winner of 2 Academy Awards

Jackson was considered to be one of the biggest British film stars in the 1960s and 70s, winning two Academy Awards for "Women in Love" and "A Touch of Class."

Following her success in film, Jackson ventured into politics and went on to be elected to Parliament, serving 23 years as a Labour MP.

Jackson served as a minister for transport in Prime Minister Tony Blair's first government in 1997 and would butt heads with him over the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

"The victims will be as they always are, women, children, the elderly," she told the Associated Press before the invasion.

Jackson returned to acting after leaving Parliament in 2015, appearing in Shakespeare's "King Lear" on Broadway, among other roles, up until her passing.

Tulip Siddiq, who succeeded Jackson as Labour lawmaker of Hampstead and Kilburn, said she was "devastated to hear that my predecessor Glenda Jackson has died." 

"A formidable politician, an amazing actress and a very supportive mentor to me. Hampstead and Kilburn will miss you Glenda," Siddiq said in a post on Twitter. 

kb/fb (AP, Reuters, AFP)