In her expansive acting career, Elizabeth McGovern has been accustomed to delivering lines crafted by others. However, she is now stepping into a new role as a playwright with her own project. Shifting from her famous portrayal in “Downton Abbey” as a member of the British aristocracy, McGovern is now taking center stage as the iconic Ava Gardner in a play she authored herself.
McGovern expresses immense joy at witnessing the manifestation of her thoughts into a tangible production, sharing, “It’s an incredible feeling to see other people embrace these things that were in your head. My feet haven’t touched the ground since we started working on this in New York. I am just loving it so much.” Her play, “Ava: The Secret Conversations,” delves into the dynamic and, at times, contentious interactions between Gardner and journalist Peter Evans, who was tasked with ghostwriting her memoir in the final years leading up to her death in 1990.
Although Gardner pulled the project before its completion, Evans went on to publish their exchanges as a book in 2013, which serves as the foundation for McGovern’s play. She was captivated by the notion of a fading star battling to maintain control over her life narrative while recounting her life story to someone else.
Directed by Tony Award-nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the production sees Aaron Costa Ganis co-starring as Evans. Ganis also portrays Gardner’s three notable husbands—actor Mickey Rooney, bandleader Artie Shaw, and performer Frank Sinatra. The play debuts off-Broadway at New York City Center this week.
Initially, McGovern was not particularly enamored with Gardner, who was celebrated for her mesmerizing green eyes, striking features, and subtle acting prowess. Her interest was piqued more by the broader concept of memoirs as battlegrounds for legacy and introspections on Hollywood fame.
McGovern debuted on screen at the age of 20 in the film “Ordinary People,” under the direction of Robert Redford, and proceeded to star alongside major Hollywood actors, including Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, and Sean Penn. Her performance in Milos Forman’s “Ragtime” earned her an Oscar nomination, echoing a career trajectory that mirrors Gardner’s in many ways.
Reflecting on Gardner’s legacy, McGovern notes, “I feel like I do have a natural affinity for who she is. I feel like we would really like each other. I don’t know, I’m flattering myself, but it’s possibly because I had a kind of similar trajectory in my early life.” Gardner’s allure as a screen goddess gained significant momentum with her role in the 1946 film “The Killers” alongside Burt Lancaster. She later starred with Humphrey Bogart in “The Barefoot Contessa” and Richard Burton in “Night of the Iguana.”
McGovern remarks on the challenges Gardner faced, caught in the unrealistic standards imposed on women at the time—to be enticing but not promiscuous. Despite many lovers, Gardner struggled with the societal shame. “I think she was a kind of feminist, in spite of herself, really,” McGovern explains. “I hope people are inspired by that — by the fact that she just did whatever she wanted to do and lived with the consequences.”
Set during the twilight of Gardner’s life, when she had been left partially paralyzed by a stroke and diagnosed with emphysema, her motivation to engage in a quick memoir was fueled by financial necessity. In the play, her character decries, “All my life I was the Woman Men Dream About. That was the only job I ever had. Where does that leave me now?”
Following engagements in Los Angeles and London, the 90-minute production makes its way to Chicago and Toronto later in the fall. Initially turning to other writers, McGovern ultimately embraced the challenge herself, immersing in Gardner’s life through film, footage, and writings to capture her essence.
Co-star Costa Ganis praises McGovern’s boldness and adaptability in writing the play, celebrating her collaborative spirit. As a musician who performs with her band Sadie & The Hotheads, McGovern drew on the confidence gained from songwriting to tackle playwriting. She is able to use music’s rhythmic instincts to ensure the play’s dialogue flows naturally.
Approaching the conclusion of her New York performance of Gardner, McGovern anticipates the release of the new “Downton Abbey” film, subtitled “The Grand Finale,” admitting initial trepidations regarding continuing the series after the passing of Maggie Smith. Yet, she is proud of the result, affirming, “I think it’s our best movie.”
Balancing music, television, and film from her base in London, McGovern always carves out time for theater, valuing its unique capacity to foster direct connections between actors and audiences while offering a distraction-free setting. She acknowledges, “It’s so healthy to have two hours where you only have one job, and that job is basically just to be present. I really feel like it’s good for the brain.”