From Broadway to DOWNTON ABBEY: A Look at Elizabeth McGovern's Stage Career

DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE is coming soon, and the new film is full of beloved actors whose talents have graced both stage and screen, including Elizabeth McGovern, who is also currently appearing off-Broadway in Ava: The Secret Conversations. 

A longtime staple of New York and London stages, some of McGovern's earliest theater work took place in the early 1980s, beginning with her 1981 Off-Broadway debut in My Sister in This House. For that production, produced by Second Stage Theater, McGovern received a Theatre World Award for her performance as Lea, one of two young sisters employed as servants in an upper-class French home. That same year, she starred in the film adaptation of Ragtime, for which she would receive an Academy Award nomination. 

She would go on to appear in Tina Howe's play Painting Churches, which debuted at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre in 1983, before transferring to the Lamb's Theatre. The play explores the personal and professional life of a young artist named Mags Church, played by McGovern in both productions. 

In 1985, she starred in a stage version of Eudora Welty's The Hitch-Hikers at The WPA Theatre, and played a movie star in the American premiere of David Hare's A Map of the World at the Public Theater. Other credits included WPA Theatre's Maids of Honor in 1990 and the Atlantic Theater Company's 1991 production of Chekhov's Three Sisters as Masha.

She has also proved to be a frequent interpreter of Shakespeare, appearing in several productions of his plays throughout the 1980s and 90s. In 1984, she starred as Viola in a Huntington Theatre production of Twelfth Night and as Helen in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New York Shakespeare Festival. At the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, she appeared in Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1987 and As You Like It in 1992.

McGovern made her Broadway debut in the 1989 Broadway production of A. R. Gurney's Love Letters. Originally starring Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards, the play follows the exchange of letters between two characters over the course of more than 50 years. In the production, she starred opposite Timothy Hutton.

McGovern returned to Broadway three years later as Ophelia in a revival of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Her most recent Broadway credit came in 2017 with the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of J.B. Priestley's Time and the Conways as Mrs. Conway. The production played 56 performances and 27 previews. 

Since the 1990s, McGovern's stage career continued mostly in the UK. In 1996, she starred as Jenny in Moliére's The Misanthrope at the Young Vic, officially marking her London theater debut. A year later, she was seen at the Old Vic in a production of David Rabe's Hurlyburly, playing a Hollywood actress alongside a starry cast of performers that included Daniel Craig.

She would go on to appear in Three Days of Rain at the Donmar Warehouse (1999) as the dual characters of Nan and Lina and as Beth in Dinner With Friends at the Hampstead Theatre in 2001. That production, which served as the play's UK premiere, was directed by her husband and occasional collaborator Simon Curtis.

In 2008, McGovern portrayed Jackie Kennedy in the world premiere production of Arista at England's Minerva Theatre. The play follows the later life of Aristotle Onassis, who would become the husband of the former First Lady. She returned to the stage a year later in Complicit at the Old Vic, which tackles the aftermath of 9/11. Directed by Kevin Spacey, she shared the stage with Richard Dreyfuss and David Suchet in that production. Later that same year, she starred as Miss A in David Mamet's The Shawl at the Arcola Theatre.

In the 2010s, McGovern became known to a whole new audience as Cora Crawley in Julian Fellowes hit television series, Downton Abbey. During this period, her stage appearances were less frequent, but, following the conclusion of the series in 2015, it wasn't long before she returned to her stage roots. For her theater work, she was awarded the 2013 Will Award by the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

In 2016, she was once again seen on the London stage in Sunset at the Villa Thalia at the Royal National Theatre, directed by Simon Godwin. She played Veronica in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage in 2018, later reprising her role for the UK tour in early 2020. Between that time, she was seen in The Starry Messenger at Wyndham's Theatre, and reprised her role as Cora in the first Downton Abbey sequel film.

2022 was a major year for the performer, as she debuted her two-person show Ava: The Secret Conversations at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London. In addition to starring as the Hollywood actress, McGovern also wrote the show. The play, based on the book by Peter Evans, chronicles the relationship between the late journalist and the performer as he attempts to uncover details about her life, such as her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra, and her turbulent relationship with Howard Hughes.

Following the London production, the show saw a successful run at the Los Angeles Geffen Playhouse in 2023 before officially making its New York debut in the summer of 2025 at New York City Center. Later this year, she will take the show to Chicago, where it will run September 24 – October 12 at the historic Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building. Amid her success with Ava, McGovern also returned to the UK stage in 2023, starring as Martha in a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Theatre Royal Bath.

She also continues to remain active on screen. In 2024, she appeared in the romantic comedy And Mrs, and will be next seen in Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order, a new series set in the world of The Vampire Chronicles. In the meantime, Downton fans can catch her for one more outing as Cora when the conclusion of the franchise hits theaters this month.

DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE, the cinematic return of the global phenomenon, follows the Crawley family and their staff as they enter the 1930s. When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.

The time has come to say goodbye. Experience the motion picture event only in theaters September 12. Get tickets now at DowntonAbbey.com.

Photo credit: Jeff Lorch