EXCLUSIVE: Final pictures show Glenda Jackson and Sir Michael Caine

EXCLUSIVE: Emotional final pictures show Glenda Jackson and Sir Michael Caine filming their last movie together and chatting to delighted locals on the Sussex seafront just weeks before the Oscar-winning actress died aged 87

• The last pictures of Glenda Jackson filming the Great Escaper have emerged
• Lat night co-star Sir Michael Caine paid tribute to the award-winning actress 
• The pair had been working on a film together just weeks before her death 

Emotional final pictures show Glenda Jackson and Sir Michael Caine filming their last movie together and chatting to locals on the Sussex seafront – just a short time before the actress died. 

The Oscar-winning British actors last filmed together 47 years ago. 

Sir Caine paid tribute to the actress and former Labour MP last night after her death at the age of 87 yesterday, calling her ‘one of the greatest movie actresses’. 

Ms Jackson died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London, after a ‘brief illness’, her agent said yesterday. 

The stars will feature alongside each other in the upcoming movie The Great Escaper, which tells a story – inspired by true events – of a Second World War veteran who escaped his care home in Hove, East Sussex, to attend the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in France. 

Sir Michael, 89, will star as Bernard Jordan, who made headlines around the world in 2014, while Ms Jackson, 87, will star as his wife Irene.  

The last pictures of the late Glenda Jackson with Sir Michael Caine on the Sussex seafront have emerged 

Ms Jackson died at her home in Blackheath, south-east London after a ‘brief illness’, it was confirmed yesterday

Sir Caine and Ms Jackson have been pictured for the first time for their new film The Great Escaper

The Oscar-winning British actors last acted together 47 years ago

Ms Jackson, who gave up her acting career in 1992 to serve in Parliament for more than 20 years, was working with Sir Michael on the film which proved to be her last just weeks before her death. 

Speaking for the first time since her passing was announced, Sir Michael, 90, said: ‘Glenda was one of our greatest movie actresses. It was a privilege to work with her on The Great Escaper recently, our second film together.

‘It was as wonderful an experience this time as it was 50 years ago. I shall miss her.’

After her death was announced, tributes poured in from both the worlds of acting and politics, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer saying her passing ‘leaves a space in our cultural and political life that can never be filled’.

After stepping down as an MP in 2015, she made a triumphant return to TV screens in the 2019 production Elizabeth Is Missing, in which she portrayed an elderly woman suffering from the early stages of dementia. 

The much praised Bafta-winning performance demonstrated why she had been showered with awards during her glittering career. 

She followed that up in 2018 with a critically acclaimed, Tony-winning performance on Broadway in Three Tall Women, which the New York Times described as ‘a casting coup … She is, politically and personally, the embodiment of not going gentle into that good night.’

The following year – at the age of 82 – she was back on the New York stage, playing the lead in a gender-bending production of King Lear. The Guardian called her performance ‘exhilarating’.

She won the first of two Academy Awards for 1970 romantic drama Women In Love, in which she starred alongside Oliver Reed and Alan Bates. The second came after her star turn in 1973 British romantic comedy A Touch Of Class. 

The stars will feature alongside each other in the upcoming movie The Great Escaper, which tells a story – inspired by true events – of a Second World War veteran who escaped his care home in Hove, East Sussex, to attend the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in France

Double Oscar-winning actress and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson has died aged 87 just weeks after working with Sir Michael Caine on what proved to be her final film. The pair are pictured above in a promotional shot for The Great Escaper

She won the first of two Academy Awards for 1970 romantic drama Women In Love, in which she starred alongside Oliver Reed and Alan Bates. Above: Ms Jackson and Reed in the film

Ms Jackson, pictured on the on the 1972 Christmas epsiode, featured more than once on The Morecambe & Wise Show

She also famously played Egyptian queen Cleopatra in 1971 for an episode of The Morecambe & Wise Show with comedy duo Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. 

In the final 15 years of her life, she lived in a basement flat beneath the home of her son, Mail on Sunday columnist Dan Hodges.

She had her son with husband Roy Hodges, whom she married in 1958 after meeting him when they both worked at Butlin’s holiday camps. The pair divorced in 1976.

Ms Jackson last acted with Sir Michael 48 years ago in The Romantic Englishwoman. She portrays Mr Jordan’s wife Irene in the new film. 

Her agent Lionel Larner said: ‘Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award winning actress and politician died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London, this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side.

‘She recently completed filming The Great Escaper in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.’

Reacting to news of her death, a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: ‘This is extremely sad news, his thoughts will be with her friends and family at this time.’ 

Labour leader Sr Keir Starmer said: ‘I was very sad to hear of Glenda Jackson’s passing. She leaves a space in our cultural and political life that can never be filled.

‘She played many roles with great distinction, passion and commitment.

‘From award-winning actor to campaigner and activist to Labour MP and government minister, Glenda Jackson was always fighting for human rights and social justice.

‘As a fellow north London MP, I know how much she was loved and respected by her constituents.’

Sir Keir also evoked her famous appearance on Morecambe & Wise as Cleopatra, with a play on her line: ‘All men are fools, and what makes them so is having beauty like what I have got.’

He said: ‘Of course no tribute to Glenda could fail to mention her role as Cleopatra in that most famous and loved of all the Morecambe And Wise sketches.

‘We will never see talent like what she has got again.’

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who took over Ms Jackson’s Hampstead and Kilburn seat after she stepped down, said: ‘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.’ 

Ms Siddiq’s party colleague Chris Bryant, who was also Ms Jackson’s biographer, added: ‘Really saddened to hear that Glenda Jackson has died. 

‘She was a great actor and I loved campaigning for her in Hampstead and Highgate.’

American-British playwright Bonnie Greer said it was a ‘privilege to be old enough to have [seen] the utter revolution in acting she was’.

Calling Ms Jackson a ‘genius’, she said she portrayed ‘total truth’ and ‘flawless craft’, and pointed out how she was one of the few stars to have won the ‘Triple Crown’ of acting – an Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award. 

 Ms Jackson in 2019 production Elizabeth Is Missing. She won a Bafta for her performance as a woman in the early stages of dementia

Ms Jackson had her son with husband Roy Hodges, whom she married in 1958. The pair divorced in 1976. Above: The couple at the premiere of The Triple Echo in 1972

Ms Jackson is seen in 1971 holding the Oscar award which she won for her performance in Women In Love

Despite her successful career, which also included two Emmy Awards and a Tony, Ms Jackson previously said she never had any interest in the social and glamorous aspects of the industry

She said she only started acting after she failed her school certificate, leaving her with no option but to start working at the age of 16 

Ms Jackson is seen portraying Queen Elizabeth I in 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots

Ms Jackson and Sir Michael are seen together in 1975, when they starred in The Romantic Englishwoman

Ms Jackson with husband Roy Hodges in 1971

Ms Jackson with Roy and their young son Dan at Heathrow airport in March 1971

Ms Jackson’s son Mr Hodges is a columnist for the Mail on Sunday. For the past 15, years she lived in a basement flat beneath his home in Blackheath. Above: The pair in 1997

Ms Jackson served as the MP for Hampstead from 1992 until 2015, when she left Parliament to re-start her acting career. Above: The actress with the then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during the 2010 General Election campaign

Ms Jackson in 1996 during her time as a Labour MP

Ms Jackson resigned from her post as a junior transport minister in 1999 after she failed to be nominated as Labour’s candidate for the newly-created Mayor of London position

Ms Jackson campaigns for Labour in 1990, two years before she entered Parliament

Here she is pictured with her fellow candidates for the Hampstead and Highgate seat at the 1997 General Election

Despite her successful career, which also included two Emmy Awards and a Tony, Ms Jackson previously said she never had any interest in the social and glamorous aspects of the industry.

She opted not to attend the Oscars ceremony on either of the occasions that she won an Academy Award.  

She gave up acting for politics more than a quarter of a century ago and served as a Labour MP for 23 years.

In 1992, she was elected as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate and served as a junior transport minister from 1997 to 1999 during Sir Tony Blair’s government.

The rest of her career in the House of Commons was spent as an outspoken backbencher. 

She was criticised for railing against Thatcherism during a session held for MPs to pay their respects to Margaret Thatcher after her death in 2013.  

Ms Jackson said she only started acting after she failed her school certificate, leaving her with no option but to start working at the age of 16.

Ms Jackson’s first role after stepping down as an MP was in a stage production of Shakespeare’s King Lear, which received positive reviews. She starred along Rhys Ifans

In a 1971 episode of The Morecambee & Wise show, Ms Jackson played Egyptian queen Cleopatra 

Ms Jackson with Eric Morecambe (right) and Ernie Wise (left)during the making of their television programme The Morecambe & Wise Show in December 1971

Ms Jackson and co-star Oliver Reed in 1969 romantic drama Women In Love

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who took over Ms Jackson’s Hampstead and Kilburn seat after she stepped down, said she was ‘devastated’ to hear of the star’s death

Labour MP Chris Bryant said: ‘Really saddened to hear that Glenda Jackson has died. She was a great actor and I loved campaigning for her in Hampstead and Highgate. My thoughts are with her son Dan’

Bonnie Greer said it was a ‘privilege to be old enough to have [seen] the utter revolution in acting she was

After joining a friend at the YMCA amateur dramatics society while she was working at her local Boots store, she went on to study at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).

Speaking to the Radio Times about working with Morecambe and Wise, whose popular show consisted of a mixture of sketches and stand-up comedy, Ms Jackson said: ‘Oh, I loved working with them.

‘I found it extremely difficult to restrain my laughter when we were doing Cleopatra.’

Ms Jackson also remembered her experience of working with the late theatre director Peter Brook on a 1967 production of Marat/Sade and who she described as a ‘genius’.

Ms Jackson with Reed in 1971 film Women In Love

Ms Jackson with Richard Harris in 1989 during filming for King Of The Wind, which was released in 1990. It was her last role before she entered politics

Ms Jackson in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, on April 16, 1971

Ms Jackson (left) is seen with US star Faye Dunaway and Austrian actor Helmut Berger (right) at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976

Ms Jackson is seen portraying Queen Elizabeth I in 1971 film Mary, Queen of Scots

Ms Jackson as Egyptian queen Cleopatra on The Morecambe & Wise Show

Ms Jackson poses during the Cannes Film Festival in southern France on May 20, 1976

Ms Jackson arriving for the funeral of Frank Dobson at St Pancras Church in London in 2019

Ms Jackson, then a transport minister under Tony Blair, is seen with actor Hugh Grant during a visit to the set of Notting Hill

Ms Jackson is seen during a visit to Wembley Stadium in 1998

Ms Jackson also once said she would ‘probably’ turn down a damehood if she were to be offered one, because ‘what does it actually mean?’

Jackson’s first role after stepping down as an MP was in a stage production of Shakespeare’s King Lear, which received positive reviews. 

She went on to star in a 2018 version of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, before she made her return to television the following year. 

Her first film role since coming out of acting retirement was in 2021 production Mothering Sunday, in which she portrayed maid Jane Fairchild in later life. 

Broadcaster and comedian Gyles Brandreth, who was Conservative MP for the City of Chester from 1992 to 1997, said after her death was announced that he treasures his ‘unlikely friendship’ with the ‘gifted, caring and special’ Ms Jackson.

‘A wonderful actress, a committed politician, a remarkable human being – we became MPs on the same day in 1992 and I treasure our unlikely friendship,’ he tweeted.

‘She was such a gifted, caring & special person who came into the world to make a difference – and did. RIP the unique Glenda Jackson.’

Former Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell has said Ms Jackson ‘found the transition to politics harder than she expected’ but had ‘a great life well lived’.

Mr Campbell, who worked with Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair, under whom Ms Jackson was a minister for transport from 1997 to 1999, tweeted: ‘Sad to hear that Glenda Jackson has died.

‘One of the finest actresses of our lifetime, our local MP and for a time minister in [Tony Blair] government.

‘I sometimes felt she found the transition to politics harder than she expected. But a great life well lived and a major contribution on so many fronts.’

Labour MP and shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell, who used to work for and alongside Ms Jackson, has recalled the ‘incredibly kind’ politician’s ‘cutting humour’ and ‘general disdain at most things’.

‘This is very sad news. In my early twenties I worked for Glenda, a decade later our MPs offices were next door,’ Ms Powell tweeted.

‘She was always incredibly kind & supportive to me.

‘I will also remember her cutting humour, general disdain at most things, all while smoking!’

Diane Abbott, who became a Labour MP in 1987, five years before Ms Jackson was elected, said: ‘Very sad to hear of the death of Glenda Jackson.

‘I served alongside her in Parliament for many years. She was a kind and extremely principled woman.’

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