Elizabeth McGovern
Encyclopedia
Early life
McGovern was born in Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, the daughter of Katharine Wolcott (née Watts), a high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
teacher, and William Montgomery McGovern, Jr., a university professor. Her paternal grandfather was adventurer William Montgomery McGovern
William Montgomery McGovern
William Montgomery McGovern was an American adventurer, Northwestern University professor, anthropologist and journalist. He was possibly an inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones....
and her maternal great-grandfather was U.S. diplomat Ethelbert Watts
Ethelbert Watts
Ethelbert Watts a United States diplomat for over twenty-four years, played important roles in the Spanish-American War, Russo-Japanese War, and World War I.-Family and personal background:...
. The McGovern family moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
where her father accepted a position with UCLA. Her younger sister is novelist Cammie McGovern.
McGovern started acting in plays while attending The Oakwood School in North Hollywood. Agent Joan Scott saw her performance in The Skin of Our Teeth
The Skin of Our Teeth
The Skin of Our Teeth is a play by Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942 at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 1942...
by Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
, was impressed by her talent, and recommended she take acting lessons. McGovern studied at the American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
in San Francisco, then at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Career
In 1980, while studying at Juilliard, McGovern was offered a part in her first film, Ordinary PeopleOrdinary People
Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....
, in which she played the girlfriend of troubled teenager, Conrad (Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
).
The following year she completed her education as an actress at the American Conservatory Theatre and at The Juilliard School, and began to appear in plays, first Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
and later in famous theaters.
In 1981, she earned an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her role as Evelyn Nesbit
Evelyn Nesbit
Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:...
in the film Ragtime
Ragtime (film)
Ragtime is a 1981 American film based on the historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. The action takes place in and around New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City in the first decade of the 1900s, and includes fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film was...
.
In 1984, she starred in Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...
as Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's romantic interest, Deborah Gelly. In 1989, she played Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
's girlfriend in Johnny Handsome
Johnny Handsome
Johnny Handsome is an 1989 American crime-drama film directed by Walter Hill and starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin and Morgan Freeman. The film was written by Ken Friedman, from the novel by John Godey. The music for the film was written, produced and performed by Ry Cooder, and Jim Keltner...
, directed by Walter Hill, and the same year she appeared as a rebellious lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
in Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
's thriller The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale (film)
The Handmaid's Tale is a 1990 film adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. Directed by Volker Schlöndorff the film stars Natasha Richardson , Faye Dunaway , Robert Duvall , Aidan Quinn , and Elizabeth McGovern . The screenplay was written by Harold Pinter...
.
Television
McGovern has also appeared in several television productions, her most recent American TV role being the 2006 Law & Order: Special Victims UnitLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
episode "Harm," in which her character of Dr. Faith Sutton was a psychiatrist accused of complicity in detainee abuse. Her other television work includes Broken Glass (Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
, 1996); Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...
; The Changeling; Tales from Hollywood; the HBO series Men and Women; The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt; Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre ("Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"); and If Not For You (CBS 1995, own series). In 1999 and 2000, McGovern played Marguerite St. Just in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series loosely based on the novel The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....
.
In May 2007, McGovern played Ellen Doubleday, Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's paramour, in Daphne, a BBC2 television drama by Amy Jenkins
Amy Jenkins
Amy Jenkins is an English novelist and screenwriter. She is the daughter of the late political journalist Peter Jenkins and the stepdaughter of The Guardian columnist and author Polly Toynbee....
, based on Margaret Forster
Margaret Forster
Margaret Forster is a British author. She was born in Carlisle, England, where she attended Carlisle and County High School for Girls , and then won an Open Scholarship to read modern history at Somerville College, Oxford, from where she graduated in 1960.After a short period as a teacher at...
's biography of the author.
In the same year, she appeared in the three-part BBC comedy series Freezing
Freezing (TV series)
Freezing is a BBC comedy series starring Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern about an otherwise successful couple in their forties who find themselves out of work...
, written by James Wood
James Wood
James Wood was an officer of the U.S. Continental Army during the American Revolution and the 11th Governor of Virginia.-Personal life:...
and directed and co-produced by her husband Simon Curtis. First broadcast on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
, it received a further three consecutive evening transmissions on BBC2 in February 2008. In it she played an American expatriate actress named Elizabeth, living in Chiswick
Chiswick
Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
with her publisher husband, played by Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams, known professionally as Hugh Bonneville , is an English stage, film, television and radio actor.-Education:...
, and co-starring Tom Hollander
Tom Hollander
Thomas Anthony "Tom" Hollander is a British actor who has appeared in productions such as Enigma, Gosford Park, Cambridge Spies, Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean, In the Loop, Valkyrie and Hanna.-Early life:Tom Hollander was born in Bristol and raised in Oxford, Oxfordshire, the son...
as her theatrical agent.
In December 2008, she appeared in an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
in the episode "Appointment with Death" and played Dame Celia Westholme.
In 2010, she played a leading role as Cora, Countess of Grantham in the British TV series Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by NBC Universal-owned British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set during the late Edwardian era and the First World War on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, and features an...
, with Hugh Bonneville for a second time playing her character's husband.
Music
McGovern is also a singer-songwriter. In 2008, she began fronting the band Sadie and the Hotheads at The Castle pub venue in Portobello RoadPortobello Road
Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London, England. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London's...
, London. The band released an album of songs she had developed with The Nelson Brothers, who are now part of the band. The album also includes Ron Knights on bass and Rowan Oliver, borrowed from Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
, as drummer for the recording sessions. Michelle Dockery
Michelle Dockery
Michelle Dockery is an English actress of stage and screen. She has become best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV drama series Downton Abbey...
, who played McGovern's eldest daughter in Downton Abbey, has occasionally sung with the band.
Theatre
Roles in New York include:- Melissa Gardner in Love LettersLove Letters (play)Love Letters is a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominated play by A. R. Gurney. The play centers on just two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III...
(A R Gurney) at the Edison TheatreEdison TheatreThe Edison Theatre was a legitimate Broadway theatre located in the Edison Hotel at 240 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Officially a 499-seat Broadway house, the Edison Theater actually had 541 seats....
, October 1989 - OpheliaOpheliaOphelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.-Plot:...
in HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
with the Roundabout Theater Company at the Criterion Center Stage Right, April 1992.
In her theatre programme CVs (below), McGovern lists her other theatre work in the US as including:
- My Sister in This House (Wendy Kesselman)
- Painting ChurchesPainting ChurchesPainting Churches is a play written by Tina Howe, first produced Off-Broadway in 1976. It was a finalist for the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play concerns the relationship between an artist daughter and her aging parents.-Plot:...
(Tina HoweTina HoweTina Howe is an American playwright. She is the daughter of journalist Quincy Howe and was raised in a literary family...
) - The Hitch-Hiker
- A Map of the World (David HareDavid Hare (dramatist)Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
) - Aunt Dan and LemonAunt Dan and LemonAunt Dan and Lemon is a play by Wallace Shawn. The world premiere was produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England on August 27, 1985, under the direction of Max Stafford-Clark. This production opened off-Broadway at The Public Theatre on October 21,...
(Wallace ShawnWallace ShawnWallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
) - A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
at the New York Shakespeare FestivalNew York Shakespeare FestivalNew York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
, Winter 1987 - When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout (Sharman McDonald)
- Maids of Honour
- Three SistersThree Sisters (play)Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
(ChekhovAnton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
) - As You Like ItAs You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
Since moving to London, McGovern's stage work has included:
- Jenny in The MisanthropeThe MisanthropeThe Misanthrope is the first EP from metal band Darkest Hour. It was released in 1996 on the defunct label Death Truck Records. It is much more hardcore orientated metalcore unlike their later releases.- Track listing :# "Vise" - 5:30...
(MolièreMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
freely adapted by Martin CrimpMartin CrimpMartin Andrew Crimp is a British playwright.Sometimes described as a practitioner of the "in-yer-face" school of contemporary British drama, Crimp though rejects the label...
) at the Young Vic Theatre, February 1996 - Darlene in HurlyburlyHurlyburlyHurlyburly is a dark comedy play by David Rabe, first staged in 1984.-Plot:More than three hours long, Hurlyburly focuses on the intersecting lives of several low- to mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by massive amounts of drugs, they attempt to find some meaning in their isolated,...
(David Rabe) at the Old VicOld VicThe Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
Theatre, March 1997 - Nan and Lina in Three Days of RainThree Days of RainThree Days of Rain is a play by Richard Greenberg that was commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 1997. The title comes from a line from W. S. Merwin's poem, "For the Anniversary of My Death"...
(Richard GreenbergRichard GreenbergRichard Greenberg is an American playwright. He is the author of over 25 plays including eight South Coast Repertory world premieres: Our Mother's Brief Affair, The Injured Party, The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, Hurrah at Last, Three Days of Rain Richard Greenberg (1958–present) is an American...
) at the Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
, March and November 1999 - Beth in Dinner With FriendsDinner with FriendsDinner with Friends is a 2000 play written by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in New York on November 4, 1999.-Plot summary:...
(Donald MarguliesDonald MarguliesDonald Margulies is an American playwright and a professor of English and Theater Studies at Yale University...
) at the Hampstead TheatreHampstead TheatreHampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
, June 2001 - Hester Prynne in The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
(Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
adapted by Phyllis NagyPhyllis NagyPhyllis Nagy is a theatre and film director, screenwriter and dramatist.-Theatre career:Nagy moved to London in 1992, where her playwriting career began in earnest at the Royal Court Theatre under the artistic direction of Stephen Daldry for whom she served as the Royal Court's writer-in-residence...
) at the Minerva TheatreMinerva Theatre, ChichesterThe Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
, ChichesterChichesterChichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
August 2005 - Judith Brown in ComplicitComplicit (play)Complicit is a play by American playwright Joe Sutton premièred at The Old Vic Theater in London on 7 January 2009.The cast of Richard Dreyfuss ,Elizabeth McGovern and...
by Joe SuttonJoe SuttonJoe Sutton is an American playwright. He writes in the traditional Aristotelian style. He teaches Playwrighting at Dartmouth College.He is the son of actor Frank Sutton....
in The Old Vic, January 2009. - Miss A in The ShawlThe ShawlThe Shawl is a four act play by David Mamet. It was first presented on April 19, 1985 by the Goodman Theatre's New Theatre Company in Chicago as the premiere production of their Briar Street Theatre...
by David MametDavid MametDavid Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
in the Arcola TheatreArcola TheatreArcola Theatre is a studio theatre in Dalston, in the London Borough of Hackney. The theatre's ambition is to create and present high-quality theatre with a social and political relevance to its multicultural local community as well as a wider audience....
, September 2009.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | California Fever California Fever California Fever is an American teen drama series that ran on CBS in 1979. The show featured a group of Los Angeles teenagers living an exotic life of disco, the beach, the opposite sex and music. The series was short-lived, lasting only 10 episodes.... |
Lisa Bannister | TV series (1 episode: "The Girl from Somewhere") |
| 1980 | Ordinary People Ordinary People Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton.... |
Jeannine Pratt | |
| Last Year's Model | short | ||
| 1981 | Ragtime Ragtime (film) Ragtime is a 1981 American film based on the historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. The action takes place in and around New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City in the first decade of the 1900s, and includes fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film was... |
Evelyn Nesbit Evelyn Nesbit Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:... |
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... Nominated — Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign... |
| 1983 | Lovesick Lovesick Lovesick is a 1983 romantic comedy film. It was written and directed by Marshall Brickman. It stars Dudley Moore and Elizabeth McGovern and features Alec Guinness as the ghost of Sigmund Freud.-Plot:... |
Chloe Allen | |
| 1984 | Once Upon a Time in America Once Upon a Time in America Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime... |
Deborah Gelly | |
| Racing with the Moon Racing with the Moon Racing with the Moon is a 1984 dramatic film starring Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern, and Nicolas Cage. It was directed by Richard Benjamin and written by Steven Kloves. The original music score was composed by Dave Grusin.-Synopsis:... |
Caddie Winger | ||
| Faerie Tale Theatre Faerie Tale Theatre Faerie Tale Theatre is a live-action children's television anthology series retelling popular fairy tales. Shelley Duvall serves as narrator, host and executive producer of the program, and occasionally stars in episodes... |
Snow White Snow White "Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm... |
TV series (1 episode: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs") | |
| 1986 | Native Son Native Son Native Son is a novel by American author Richard Wright. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, an African American living in utter poverty. Bigger lived in Chicago's South Side ghetto in the 1930s... |
Mary Dalton | |
| 1987 | The Bedroom Window | Denise | |
| 1988 | She's Having a Baby She's Having a Baby She's Having a Baby is a 1988 American romance film directed by John Hughes.The film portrays a young newlywed couple, Kristy and Jake Briggs played by Elizabeth McGovern and Kevin Bacon, who try to cope with being married and what is expected of them by their parents. Jake must also deal with the... |
Kristy Briggs | |
| 1989 | Johnny Handsome Johnny Handsome Johnny Handsome is an 1989 American crime-drama film directed by Walter Hill and starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin and Morgan Freeman. The film was written by Ken Friedman, from the novel by John Godey. The music for the film was written, produced and performed by Ry Cooder, and Jim Keltner... |
Donna McCarty | |
| 1990 | Women and Men: Stories of Seduction | Vicki | TV movie |
| The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid's Tale (film) The Handmaid's Tale is a 1990 film adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. Directed by Volker Schlöndorff the film stars Natasha Richardson , Faye Dunaway , Robert Duvall , Aidan Quinn , and Elizabeth McGovern . The screenplay was written by Harold Pinter... |
Moira | ||
| A Shock to the System A Shock to the System A Shock to the System is a U.S. comedy crime thriller film directed by Jan Egleson, starring Michael Caine, Swoosie Kurtz, Elizabeth McGovern, and Peter Riegert... |
Stella Anderson | ||
| Tune in Tomorrow... Tune in Tomorrow Tune In Tomorrow is a 1990 film comedy directed by John Amiel.It is based on the Mario Vargas Llosa novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and was released under that name in many countries... |
Elena Quince | ||
| 1991 | Ashenden | Aileen Somerville | TV mini-series |
| 1992 | Tales from Hollywood | Helen Schwartz | TV movie |
| 1993 | King of the Hill King of the Hill (film) King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the... |
Lydia | |
| Me and Veronica | Fanny | ||
| Performance | Beatrice-Joanna | TV series (1 episode: "The Changeling") | |
| 1994 | The Favour | Emily | |
| 1995 | Wings of Courage | Noelle Guillaumet | short |
| Broken Trust | Janice Dillon | TV movie | |
| If Not for You | Jessie Kent | TV series (8 episodes) | |
| 1996 | Tracey Takes On... Tracey Takes On... Tracey Takes On... is an HBO sketch comedy series created by British-American comedienne Tracey Ullman.In 1993, Ullman returned to television after her hit Fox comedy series, The Tracey Ullman Show, was canceled, with two comedy specials for HBO. Tracey Ullman Takes On New York, and Tracey Ullman:... |
Judge Loring | TV series (1 episode: "Vanity") - uncredited |
| Tales from the Crypt Tales from the Crypt (TV series) Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO... |
Laura Kendall | TV series (1 episode: "Horror in the Night") | |
| Broken Glass | Margaret Hymen | TV movie | |
| The Summer of Ben Tyler | Celia Rayburn | TV movie | |
| 1997 | The Wings of the Dove | Susie "Sue" Stringham | |
| Clover | Sara Kate | TV movie | |
| 1998 | If Only... | Diane | |
| The Misadventures of Margaret The Misadventures of Margaret The Misadventures of Margaret is a 1998 French-British romantic comedy film directed by Brian Skeet and starring Parker Posey, Jeremy Northam and Craig Chester. It was based on the novel Rameau's Niece by Cathleen Schine. The bored wife of a Professor decides to write an erotic novel.-Cast:* Parker... |
Till Turner | ||
| 1999 | The Scarlet Pimpernel The Scarlet Pimpernel (TV Series) The Scarlet Pimpernel is a series of television drama programmes loosely based on Baroness Emmuska Orczy's series of novels, set during the French Revolution.... |
Lady Margaret Blakeney | TV series (3 episodes) |
| 2000 | Thursday the 12th | Candice Hopper | TV movie |
| Manila | Elizabeth | ||
| The House of Mirth The House of Mirth (2000 film) The House of Mirth is a 2000 film version of Edith Wharton's 1905 novel The House of Mirth. The film was written and directed by Terence Davies and stars Gillian Anderson.-Plot:... |
Mrs. Carry Fisher | ||
| 2001 | The Flamingo Rising The Flamingo Rising The Flamingo Rising is a 2001 dramatic film in the Hallmark Hall of Fame released on television in 2001, and based on the novel The Flamingo Rising written by Larry Baker in 1997. The movie stars William Hurt, Elizabeth McGovern, and Brian Benben... |
Edna Lee | TV movie |
| Hawk | Susie Hawkins | TV movie | |
| Table 12 | Mel | TV series (1 episodes: "Preserves") | |
| Buffalo Soldiers | Mrs. Berman | ||
| 2003 | The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire is an American drama series created by David E. Kelley that aired on CBS. The show offers the typical quirkiness and eccentric humor that have become synonymous with David E. Kelley's shows... |
Helen Shaw | TV series (7 episodes) |
| 2006 | The Truth The Truth (2006 film) The Truth is a darkly comic murder-mystery satirising new age therapy. It was directed by George Milton, co-written by Milton and Mark Tilton and produced by Julie-anne Edwards... |
Donna | |
| Three Moons over Milford Three Moons Over Milford Three Moons Over Milford is an American science fiction dramedy set in a picturesque small town in southern Vermont. Shortly before the series begins, an asteroid hits the Moon, shattering it into three fragments, threatening to eventually fall to Earth and end life... |
Laura Davis | TV series (8 episodes) | |
| 2007 | Daphne | Ellen Doubleday | TV movie |
| Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit | Dr. Faith Sutton | TV series (1 episode: "Harm") | |
| A Room with a View A Room with a View (2007 TV drama) A Room with a View is televised adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel, A Room with a View, written by Andrew Davies. It was announced in 2006 and filmed in the summer of 2007... |
Mrs. Honeychurch | TV movie | |
| Freezing Freezing (TV series) Freezing is a BBC comedy series starring Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern about an otherwise successful couple in their forties who find themselves out of work... |
Elizabeth | TV series (3 episodes: 2007-2008) | |
| 2008 | Inconceivable Inconceivable (film) Inconceivable is a 2008 satirical drama about the test-tube baby industry. The film was written and directed by Mary McGuckian.-Plot:Dr. Freeman runs a Las Vegas Assisted Reproductive Technology clinic... |
Tallulah "Tutu" Williams | |
| Agatha Christie: Poirot | Dame Celia Westholme | TV series (1 episode: "Appointment with Death") | |
| 2009 | 10 Minute Tales | The Ex-Wife | TV series short (1 episode: "The Running of the Deer") |
| 2010 | Kick-Ass Kick-Ass (film) Kick-Ass is a 2010 superhero comedy film based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who co-produced the film with actor Brad Pitt, and co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman... |
Mrs. Lizewski | |
| Clash of the Titans Clash of the Titans (2010 film) Clash of the Titans is a 2010 fantasy and action remake of the 1981 film of the same name . The story is very loosely based on the Greek myth of Perseus. Directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Sam Worthington, the film was originally set for standard release on March 26, 2010... |
Marmara | ||
| Downton Abbey Downton Abbey Downton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by NBC Universal-owned British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set during the late Edwardian era and the First World War on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, and features an... |
Cora, Countess of Grantham | TV series (15 episodes: 2010-2011) Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie |
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| 2011 | Angel's Crest | post-production | |
| Cheerful Weather for the Wedding Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (film) Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is an upcoming comedy drama directed by Donald Rice and adapted from the 1932 novel of the same name by Julia Strachey of the Bloomsbury Group. The film stars Felicity Jones, Elizabeth McGovern and Luke Treadaway... |
Mrs. Thatcham | post-production |