Appreciation: Glenda Jackson, formidable English talent who helped change contemporary acting’s tone

There was never anything shrinking about the confidence Glenda Jackson projected on stage and screen in her heyday. Afflicted with an uncommon common sense, her characters were defined by their sharp intelligence, independence and, yes, irritability. They were nobody’s fool, even when they wound up with the short end of the stick.

Jackson, who died Thursday at her home in London after a short illness at age 87, was one of the leading British actors of her generation. A two-time Academy Award winner (“Women in Love,” “A Touch of Class”), she rose to prominence as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, working with director Peter Brook on his path-breaking production of Peter Weiss’ “Marat/Sade,” an Artaud-inspired assault on the senses and a Brechtian call to revolution that became a cultural touchstone on Broadway and was