Tony nominee Glenda Jackson appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert May 14 to talk about her return to the stage in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women. Her 2018 nomination marks her fifth Tony nod, as she was previously nominated for Marat/Sade, Rose, Strange Interlude, and, most recently, in 1988 for Macbeth.
The large gap in time is a result of Jackson’s 23 years served in the British Parliament. The actor-turned-politician explained to Stephen Colbert she felt a call to government “because my country was being destroyed by Margaret Thatcher,” Jackson said. “I didn't expect to win—I didn't even expect to be selected in the first instance.”
Read: WHY OSCAR WINNER GLENDA JACKSON RETURNED TO BROADWAY FOR EDWARD ALBEE’S THREE TALL WOMEN
Jackson first returned to acting on the London stage at the Old Vic in King Lear. Three Tall Women marks her first appearance back on Broadway, alongside Tony nominee Laurie Metcalf and Alison Pill. The play is also nominated for Best Revival of a Play. “It's based in the main on his relationship with his adoptive mother,” said Jackson. She shared that one of the most informative pieces of the script was in the lines on an introductory page that said: “I never during her lifetime met anyone who liked her. I never met anyone who saw the play who disliked her. What have I done?”
With all the talk of British government and the American stage, Jackson mentioned that in King Lear one of the characters had been hung, to which Colbert replied “hanged. Don’t mean to teach the British their language, but....” Watch Jackson’s quick-witted retort in the video above.
