Downton Abbey's Elizabeth McGovern angry at stuck-up pompous snobs on set
DOWNTON ABBEY star Elizabeth McGovern says her genteel screen character is nothing like her hot-tempered real self.
The American actress, who plays Lady Cora, Countess of Grantham, says she sometimes feels like taking a swing at her on-screen husband, actor Hugh Bonneville, because he is so convincing at playing a pompous aristocrat.
Elizabeth, 52, says she would love to have the “grace and dignity” of her Downton character but she has too much “anger” inside.
“I get totally suckered by his [Hugh’s] portrayal of Robert,” she says. “I don’t know if you can see it on screen but I’m often sitting there thinking, ‘One of these days I am going to wring your damn neck, you stuck-up, pompous snob.
“Watch me closely in the new series… see if you can catch me getting ready to kick his ass.”
Elizabeth, whose grandfather was a Buddhist, says a quiet life is not for her. She told Reader’s Digest: “When I do get time off I’m way too busy going to the supermarket and cooking the family dinner to go and live in a monastery. And I’m probably too angry to meditate.
“I’m not trying to paint a picture of some terrible personality disorder but you ask anyone who really knows me and they’ll tell you they see a lot of anger. Look at the way we treat the world and let each other down, the unfairness of life. I’m not necessarily talking about my life, because I get compensated very well for my job, but that doesn’t stop me getting cross at some of the things I see.”
Co-star Laura Carmichael, meanwhile, has revealed the show’s creator Julian Fellowes insists the cast maintain the stiff upper lip of the era. He even banned her and Michelle Dockery, who plays her sister Lady Mary, from hugging as they acted out scenes in the wake of the death in a car crash of Lady Mary’s husband Matthew.