In Memory of Glenda Jackson

Glenda Jackson as Gudrun Brangwen in Women in Love (1969) 

and as Cleopatra in The Morecambe and Wise Show (1971)

 

 

I. 

 

I wouldn't say I was a huge fan of the actress Glenda Jackson [1], who died a few days ago, aged 87. But I do remember with a certain degree of fondness her appearances on the Morecambe & Wise Show - particularly the cod-classical Cleopatra sketch, in which she delivered the immortal line: "All men are fools and what makes them so is having beauty like what I have got." [2]

 

And, of course, I also admire her Academy Award winning performance as Gudrun, in Ken Russell's Women in Love (1969) [3]. The critic Brian McFarlane was spot on to describe Jackson's "blazing intelligence, sexual challenge and abrasiveness" [4] in the superbly written role; I think even Lawrence might have been impressed by her fearlessness.  

 

 

II. 

 

Born, in 1936, into a solidly working-class family from Birkenhead, Glenda was named after the wise-cracking Hollywood blonde Glenda Farrell. 

 

A politically-conscious and talented teenager, Miss Jackson won a scholarship to study at RADA in 1954. 

 

Prior to this, she spent two years working at Boots, which she hated; as she did the series of soul-destroying jobs she was obliged to take whilst unable to land roles in the early years of her acting career [5].

 

Fortunately, fame, fortune, and critical success were just around the corner and Jackson became a huge star of stage and screen in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

 

However, she decided to quit acting in 1991, in order to devote herself to politics full-time as the Labour Party candidate for Hampstead and Highgate. 

 

Entering Parliament the following year, Jackson declared her determination to do anything legal to oppose the Tory government, still led at this time by Margaret Thatcher, whom she despised. 

 

(As a staunch republican, she wasn't a great supporter of the British monarchy either.)

 

In 2015, having retired from politics, Jackson returned to her first love; even treating us to a magnificent (gender-transcending) interpretation of King Lear, in Deborah Warner's 2016 production at the Old Vic: 

 

 

 Photo: Tristram Kenton (2016)

 

 

Notes

 

[1] As lengthy obituaries for Jackson have (rightly) appeared in every major news publication, I'm not going to recap her life and career in detail here. Primarily, I wanted simply to remind readers of her roles as Cleopatra and Gudrun Brangwen. However, I will add a few biographical details in part two of this post discussing her later years.    

 

[2] See The Morecambe & Wise Show (S5/E5), dir. John Ammonds, written by Eddie Braben, which aired on 3 June, 1971. Click here to watch the lengthy (14:32) Cleopatra sketch on the Facebook page Classic TV Moments. The line quoted begins at 5:57.  

 

[3] Interestingly, Jackson was pregnant whilst filming Women in Love - though I'm not sure if this fact helped, hindered, or made no difference to her astonishing performance. 

      Click here to watch the famous scene in which Jackson - as Gudrun - dances in front some (bemused and increasingly agitated) Highland cattle, whilst her sister Ursula (played by Jennie Linden) watches on fightened of what might the beasts might do. Eventually, Gerald Crich (Oliver Reid) arrives to put a stop to her fun and games, demanding to know why she wished to drive his cattle mad.

 

[4] Brian McFarlane (ed.), The Encyclopedia of British Film, (Methuen / BFI, 2003), p. 339.

 

[5] These jobs included: waitress in a coffee shop; receptionist for a theatrical agent; and a shop assistant at British Home Stores. Being a woman with an artistic temperament from a traditional working class background, surely helped Jackson in the role of Gudrun.   

 

 

Lady Chatterley: A Jewel in the Crown of England's Glory

Michele Dotrice as Constance in 'The Handyman and M'Lady'

The Morecambe & Wise Show (1976)

 

'There are jewels in the crown of England's glory 

And every jewel shines a thousand ways ...'

 

 

Constance Chatterley - known to her friends and family as Connie, to her servants and social inferiors as Lady Chatterley, and to her lover, Oliver Mellors, as the best bit o' cunt left on earth [1] - is a fictional figure ingrained in our cultural imagination in its broadest sense, forever popping up and stripping off in the literary imagination; the pornographic imagination; the comic imagination; and the popular imagination. 

I was recently reminded of this when watching an episode of The Morecambe & Wise Show from January 1976 [2], in which Michele Dotrice (Ooh Betty!) gives us her a version of Connie in a play what Ern wrote entitled 'The Handyman and M'Lady' and which concerns a rich, titled young lady who is deprived of love after her husband has an accident with a combine harvester, unfortunately leaving him impudent.

  

I was then further reminded of Connie's cultural ubiquity when I happened to come across a video on Youtube of Ian Dury performing a song entitled 'England's Glory', in which he name-checks a few of the jewels (i.e. people and things) that embody all that is best about our national character: click here [3].   

 

I have to admit, it makes me smile to hear Lady Chatterley mentioned after Vera Lynne and Stafford Cripps (just before Muffin the Mule, Winston Churchill and Robin Hood). 

 

But it also makes me think that those in government tasked with coming up with a 'Life in the UK Test' to try and keep out those who know nothing (and care less) about British history and culture, might have used this song for the basis for such.

 

Although, having said that, the sad truth is that most UK-born citizens under the age of 55 probably have no idea what winkles, Woodbines and Walnut Whips are either; or even who Frankie Howerd and Max Miller were ...       

 

 

Notes

 

[1] This charming phrase appears in chapter XII of D. H. Lawrence's scandalous novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. It can be found on p. 177 of the Cambridge edition ed. Michael Squires (1993). 

 

[2] The Morecambe & Wise Show, Series 9: Episode 2, dir. Ernest Maxin, written by Eddie Braben (with additional material by Eric and Ernie). This episode first aired on BBC Television on 21 January, 1976.

 

[3] 'England's Glory', written by Ian Dury and Rod Melvin, can be found on the album Apples (WEA, 1989): click here. A demo version can also be found on Hit Me! The Best of Ian Dury (BMG, 2020); and a live version is included on the re-issued New Boots and Panties!! (Edsel Records, 2015). 

      Amusingly, the song was first recorded by Max Wall and released as a single on Stiff Records in 1977. Wall also appeared onstage with Dury at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1978, but was poorly received by the punk audience, until Dury came out and told 'em to show some fucking respect for a legend of British comedy. Those who are interested, can listen to Wall's version of 'England's Glory' by clicking here.