The longtime actress earned was recognized for her performance in “Three Tall Women.” The Triple Crown of Acting comes after a 47-year stretch.
Longtime actress Glenda Jackson finally earned the Triple Crown of Acting on Sunday, when she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for Three Tall Women. The Triple Crown honor is bestowed upon actors who win at least one competitive Academy Award, Emmy and Tony Award.
It took Jackson 47 years to earn the achievement, becoming only the 24th person to do so since 1953. It’s also the longest stretch in Triple Crown history. (Jessica Tandy took 42 years to complete the hat trick.) The actress first earned an Oscar for in 1971 for Best Actress in Women in Love and, in 1972, she won two Primetime Emmys for her role as Queen Elizabeth in Elizabeth R. While she’s since been nominated for four Tony Awards, she's never won -- until now, on her fifth try, for Three Tall Women.
Since opening in March, Jackson’s performance in the revival of the Edward Albee play has earned her rave reviews, with The New York Times noting that “she is, politically and personally, the embodiment of not going gentle into that good night.” The production also stars Alison Pill and Laurie Metcalf, who is also nominated for her performance and won a Tony Award last year for A Doll’s House, Part 2.
While Jackson’s had a long, celebrated acting career, she put that on hold in 1992, when she was elected to the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She remained there until she retired in 2015.
At 82 years old, Jackson is now the third oldest Tony winner behind Angela Lansbury, who was 83 at her last win, and Cicely Tyson, who was 89 when she took home a Tony.
The last person to win the Triple Crown of Acting was Viola Davis, who won an Oscar for Fences in 2017.
The 2018 Tony Awards, hosted by Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles, were broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday, June 10 on CBS.
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