But she did not flourish there and left at 16. (Ms. Jackson remained convinced that she was plain, even ugly — a belief later reinforced by the academy’s principal, who told her that she could become only a character actress and “shouldn’t expect to work much before you’re 40.”)The schooling prepared her for what became six years in provincial repertory. In 1958 she married Roy Hodges, a fellow actor. Regional stage work meant periods of unemployment, odd jobs and poverty for the couple, and Ms. Jackson later admitted that she had shoplifted food and other essentials that she could conceal under her coat. Her big break came in 1964, when the director Mr. Brook brought her into an experimental group he was assembling for the recently formed Royal Shakespeare Company.

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Persons: Glenda, Albert Finney, Peter O’Toole, Jackson, “, Roy Hodges, Brook, “ Marat, Sade, Tony, Jackson’s Charlotte Corday Organizations: Navy, West, West Kirby County Grammar School for Girls, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Royal Shakespeare Company, Broadway Locations: West Kirby, London