A Son of the Rock

While I was away both Glenda Jackson and Cormac McCarthy died.

Jackson was without doubt one of the best actors of her time. I was only familiar with her televison and film work, particularly in the role of Elizabeth of England in the BBC’s Elizabeth R (which had a rerun on TV a few weeks ago) and the film Mary, Queen of Scots, where she played opposite Vanessa Redgrave, but her stage performances seem to have been exceptional. Unusually she turned from acting to stand for Parliament (representing the Labour Party) and spent 18 years as MP for Hampstead and Highgate before boundary changes meant she had to stand in Hampstead and Kilburn instead. Sshe won by 42 votes, standing down at the next election as she would be almost 80. A triumphant return to acting ensued. On the left-wing of the Labour Party she was not too enamoured of the Tony Blair era.

Glenda May Jackson : 9/5/1936 – 15/6/2023. So it goes.

Cormac McCarthy was highly regarded – Blood Meridian has been called the Great American Novel and The Road won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize but I must confess I have not read any of his books. (Reading the obituary linked to above I would say I would most likely not find his work congenial.)

Charles Joseph (Cormac) McCarthy: 20/7/1933 – June 13/6/2023. So it goes.