01:17 PM EDT 05/23/2013
Maggie Smith
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Diddy Does Downton Abbey – His Way
Originally posted 05/16/2013 03:45PM
Could Diddy possibly be Lady Mary's latest love interest?
Sadly, no – but for a minute there he really had us going.
When the hip-hop mogul and part-time actor announced to his 8.7 million Twitter followers Wednesday that he would be a series regular on the next season of Downton Abbey – his "favorite show" – it seemed ridiculous.
But then again, producers of the smash-hit PBS series recently announced that they are trying to diversify, and Diddy has done serious roles, including that of the son, Walter Lee Younger, in the 2004 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun.
So, maybe?
Sesame Street Spoofs Downton Abbey
Originally posted 02/04/2013 03:30PM
There's been plenty of drama on Downton Abbey this season but nothing compared to the challenges facing the residents of Upside Downton Abbey.
In a Sesame Street spoof of the hit PBS show, a Dowager Countess of Grantham lookalike requests several items from her butler, Carson, including tea, crumpets and a steak and kidney pie.
"I live to serve," he says, bringing her the food and drink. But each time the items fall to the ceiling because, the puppets discuss, everything is upside down on Upside Downton Abbey.
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Downton Abbey's Dramatic Plot Turn: What Caused It?
Originally posted 01/28/2013 01:20PM
How seriously do TV viewers take what happens to the Crawleys and those in their sphere on Downton Abbey?
So seriously that, as the series' creator and writer Julian Fellowes recently admitted to PEOPLE, he even gets yelled at "a bit" by members of the public when something they dislike takes place on the show.
"And they know it all," the Oscar- and Emmy-winner, 63, said about the public's reaction. "They have opinions that are better than mine."
SPOILER ALERT: Details of Sunday's broadcast are about to be revealed.
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Downton Abbey's Downstairs Cast Dresses Up
Originally posted 01/28/2013 10:00AM
On the screen, Downton Abbey's downstairs house staff are decidedly unglamorous and dressed to reflect their life's station. But at the SAG Awards Sunday night, where they won for best TV cast, the actors said they were thrilled to be made up and presenting themselves as red-carpet ready.
"It's bliss. It really is nice to have more than 10 minutes spent on your face," said actress Phyllis Logan, who plays stoic Mrs. Hughes, the head maid.
Added Amy Nuttall, who plays Ethel, the housemaid turned prostitute: We all get costume and hair and makeup envy of the upstairs girls. They all look immaculate and fresh, and we're all made to look tired."
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Downton Abbey's Maggie Smith & Elizabeth McGovern: Before They Were Stars
Originally posted 01/14/2013 10:30AM
Everyone has a past ... even the actors on Downton Abbey.
Long before they were cast as members of the aristocratic Crawley family, Dame Maggie Smith and Elizabeth McGovern appeared in a variety of films, and Snakkle.com has the photos to prove it.
As Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, Smith reigns over her costars, often offering some comic relief in the form of barbs. But prior to Downton and long before her iconic roles in Sister Act and the Harry Potter films, Smith was a fresh-faced girl engulfed in her studies.
(Smith, 78, won a Golden Globe Sunday night and is nominate ford a SAG Award for her role on Downton.)
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Downton Abbey: 5 Best Moments from Season 3 Premiere
Originally posted 01/07/2013 09:35AM
Downton Abbey is back!
Sunday's two-hour premiere was full of developments – upstairs, downstairs and outside of the Crawleys' sprawling country home. As Mary and her fiancé Matthew prepare for their wedding, Lord Grantham gets word that his wife Cora's fortune has disappeared thanks to a bad investment in a Canadian railroad company. At the same time, Matthew has learned that he may become the heir to his late fiancée's father's inheritance. And so just when the problem of finding a practical heir to Downton is resolved, the future of the estate is once again in question. Anna is as loyal a wife as ever, working to free Bates from spending life in prison; Lady Edith continues to pursue the much older Sir Anthony; and housekeeper Mrs. Hughes may have cancer!
But that's just the tip of the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Here are the best moments from the season 3 premiere:
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SAG Award Nominations Go to Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Downton Abbey
Originally posted 12/12/2012 09:30AM
The 2013 Award Season officially kicked off Wednesday morning with the announcement of the 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations – and double nominees Nicole Kidman (for HBO's Hemingway and Gellhorn and the movie The Paperboy) and Maggie Smith (for PBS's Downton Abbey and the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), as well as Kevin Costner, Julianne Moore, Jim Parsons, Alec Baldwin, Betty White, Tina Fey, Javier Bardem and Anne Hathaway all have reasons to be smiling.
In the theatrical motion picture division, the SAG/AFTRA nominated the following for outstanding performance for a cast (SAG's version of the best picture prize):
• Argo
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Les Misérables
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
Downton Abbey: Maggie Smith & Shirley MacLaine Face Off in Season 3 Promo
Originally posted 08/20/2012 11:40AM
Season 3 of Downton Abbey won't air in the U.S. until Jan. 6, but Britain's ITV is already promoting the return of the hit costume drama.
In the first of two 20-second clips, the Granthams are discussing the arrival of Lady Cora's mother Martha Levinson, played by Shirley MacLaine, from America.
"I'm so looking forward to seeing your mother again," says Lady Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by Maggie Smith. "When I'm with her I'm reminded of the virtues of the English."
"Isn't she American?" asks Matthew Crawley, played by Dan Stevens.
"Exactly," quips Smith.
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Shirley MacLaine Sends Dispatches from the Downton Abbey Set
Originally posted 02/24/2012 07:45AM
She'll add some sass to the class.
The welcome news that Shirley MacLaine is joining the British bluebloods for Season 3 of the TV hit Downton Abbey has speculation running high on just how she'll fit in.
To her own eye, it appears to be just fine. Set to play an American character named Martha Levinson, who is the mother of Cora, Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), the 77-year-old Oscar winner Tweeted from the set in England this week.
"Everything is going well. We shot outside in wind and rain. Love the cast and crew," MacLaine said Wednesday, before adding on Thursday: "Amazing day on Downton Abbey set. I love the British humor and temperament and functionality. Maggie [Smith, who plays the Dowager Countess] is so subtle and so much fun!"
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Shirley MacLaine Joins the Cast of Downton Abbey
Originally posted 01/30/2012 05:15PM
Look who's coming to Downton!
Shirley MacLaine will join the cast of British period drama Downton Abbey for its third season, producers confirmed Monday.
MacLaine, 77, will play Martha Levinson, the American mother of Elizabeth McGovern's wealthy countess, Lady Cora Grantham. The Oscar-winning screen legend will go toe to toe with Maggie Smith, who portrays the tart-tongued Dowager Countess Violet, according to the show's producers.
Gareth Neame, managing director of Carnival Films, which produces the series, said the new character "will be a wonderful combatant for Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess and we are excited at the prospect of Shirley MacLaine playing her."
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