From Countess To Chaperone Elizabeth's Change Of Fortune

The Downton Abbey Star Has a Roaring New Role

- Donna Fleming

Portraying characters from another era is something Elizabeth McGovern does exceptionally well. She earned an Oscar nomination for her part in Ragtime, a movie set at the turn of the last century, and found global fame starring in period drama Downton Abbey as Cora, Countess of Grantham.

Now, her latest movie The Chaperone, which she produced herself as well as starring as the title character, is also set in the Roaring Twenties.

But the fact she’s ended up in films and TV shows that portray this long-ago era is a complete fluke, says Elizabeth (57).

“I just love good stories and it has been coincidental that the stories I am closely associated with happen to be period pieces. It’s not that I love doing period pieces per se, but I love doing good stories with good characters. I certainly don’t feel that I was born in the wrong era.”

The US-born actress recently visited New Zealand to promote The Chaperone and during the string of back-to-back interviews on her one day here – she spent most of her time in a hotel room or TV studios – she was repeatedly asked what makes period dramas such as Downton Abbey and, hopefully, The Chaperone, so popular with audiences today.