Shirley MacLaine Season 3

Martha does not look amused at Downton Abbey so far...

Fans had their first look at Shirley MacLaine on the set of Season 3 of Downton Abbey. Miss MacLaine looks downright stern. Speculation is that Martha’s first visit to Downton Abbey does not go swimmingly. MacLaine plays  Mrs Levinson, the mother of Earl of Grantham’s American wife Cora, played by Elizabeth McGovern.

In Downton Abbey Season 3, everyone awaits the arrival of Martha Levinson. It seems the Grantham estate needs more money from the other side of the pond, especially Countess Violet. Producers of Downton Abbey have promised the character of Levinson will provide a wonder opponent for the Queen of Mean Dowager Countess played by Maggie Smith. Shirley MacLaine won an Academy Award for playing another prickly mother in the 1983 movie, “Terms of Endearment.”

Of Countess Violet, Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton says “Maggie [is] barely restraining her sneer in having to deal with this American. Maggie Smith is a handful, it’s true. She’s very difficult. She knows her worth, and she’s tricky on the set, but she delivers when the time comes.”

Filming of the third series  of Downton Abbey began in February. The show has been a runaway hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Downton Abbey follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants at a country estate in the early 1900s. Not much is known about the new character, Martha, except she will visit her daughter Cora Crawley in England. But things are never simple at Downton Abbey and we can expect a stir among family and staff. Yummers.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in the hat department it seems. Lady Cora wears some doozies and it looks like she learned from the best.