PASADENA, Calif. — Julian Fellowes was an actor for 30 years. Then, by some quixotic trick of fate, his life changed overnight. There was no planning to it, he says. But he became one of England’s most famous screenwriters when his “Downton Abbey” hit the telly and viewers couldn’t get enough of it.
On Sunday he’ll do it again, as his “Belgravia” arrives on Epix. The six-part series takes place in the 19th century amid the glitterati of the era assembled in London’s upscale neighborhood of Belgravia which is, of course, filled with secrets and scandals.
Ever since drama school, acting served as Fellowes’ métier. “I was a very hard worker at getting work,” he recalls.
“I had a rule that I never let a 24-hour period go by without doing something to make work happen — either an interview, writing a letter, making a telephone call, going to a show so I was there on the first night — whatever it was,” he says.
“And I kept that up for 10 years and did get work. It worked. Now looking back, I think I was a bit too desperate. I think I should’ve calmed down. And when people ask what would you tell your own 25-year-old self? I always say, ‘Calm down,’ because I was pushing and pushing and pushing. Nevertheless I did get work,” he nods.
“Then I got married in 1990 and I don’t know whether that made me less desperate, but that calmed me down, and I was very happy. And a year later, I was a father and suddenly the work side of it started to take off.”
It did take off with roles in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “Shadowlands” and “Aristocrats.” But acting proved unpredictable, and Fellowes says he was looking for a Plan B.
“I thought I would become a producer, and I set up … at the BBC a children’s drama. And then we just needed some work on the script, and we’d spent all the money, so we had to find someone to do the work on the script for nothing. And, not surprisingly, nobody wanted this enticing job. And so I ended up stepping in and doing it myself,” says Fellowes.
He was surprised when the kiddie show was successful, and followed it with an adaptation of “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” which earned an International Emmy in New York.
“And then I was a writer. So it all happened with no planning at all,” he says.
After another kids’ series he started writing for adults. He penned a script for American actor Bob Balaban, which never saw the light of day.
But it was because of the failed script that Fellowes stumbled onto his path to fame. “That proved to be my audition for the film that became ‘Gosford Park’ because Bob Balaban was trying to set it up with (director) Bob Altman,” says Fellowes, “and when they were trying to find a writer, they couldn’t find an established writer who’d say yes.
“To this day I don’t know why not because it was clearly going to be Altman’s only English film, so you would’ve thought that some of the English writers would want to do it. But nobody did. And Balaban, because of this script that I’d written, suggested me. And I did a kind of interview over the telephone, and I got the job. And the rest, if not history, at least explains how I progressed from there.”
How he progressed from there was to win the Academy Award for his “Gosford Park” screenplay.
But he was still acting in the TV series “Monarch of the Glen” when he won the Oscar. “That ran seven years but I was in it for five years, and in the third year I wrote ‘Gosford Park,’ and three days after I’d won the Oscar for ‘Gosford’ I started writing “Downton Abbey.’ And by the time I finished with ‘Monarch,’ my writing career had really got going,” he says.
The response to “Abbey” was extraordinary and exhilarating, he says. “It was like being at the center of a good whirlwind, a magic carpet ride to end all. I think most of us would say the same — the actors and the crew — we were suddenly in the middle of a huge hit. And most of us in the industry, if that happens once in your career, you’re lucky.”
He says he soon learned to just get on with it in spite of the fame.
“I don’t think one should ever forget that we have been given what many people — many of whom are far more talented certainly than I am, and they’ve never had the break … And I did get the break. And I think you must never lose your gratitude for that because it’s not inevitable. There are many, many very talented people who were never quite in the right place at the right time.”
DIVORCE DOESN’T COME BETWEEN THEM
Although they are divorced, Wayne Brady and his ex-wife, Mandie Taketa, have been working together for 24 years. Their latest project is the unique “Wayne Brady’s Comedy IQ,” airing on BYUtv.
The show brings eight comic hopefuls together for a yuk-off competition that lasts for 10 weeks. Brady serves as adviser and inspiration for the eager contenders, who were found through the internet and live auditions.
Working with an ex might be challenging, but not for them, says Brady. “For years she’s been in my shadow, but I can honestly say this, a lot of my success and a lot of the funny that I’ve been able to do on TV has been because of our working relationship,” he says.
“She sets me up so that I can go out and hit a home run. And a lot of the comedy specials I’ve done and whatnot, she’s helped to direct and write them. So, the division of labor really has always been 50-50, sometimes 60-40, but mine has been a very vocal and visual half of this partnership,” he says.
“We transcend the ex-husband, ex-wife,” continues Brady. “We are truly legitimately family, which is why it’s wonderful that we’re here at BYUtv, which they actually love that, and love that piece of our working relationship. That we fight, and we have, yeah, ‘You always do this. You always do that. Blah, blah, blah.’ But just like you do with your family, at the end of the day, you listen to each other and things turn out well. And that’s where we’ve stood.”
QUEEN LATIFAH GETTING IT RIGHT
Lifetime will present a special movie about the gospel-singing Clark Sisters on Saturday, appropriately titled “The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel.” One of the executive producers on the show is Queen Latifah (along with Missy Elliott and Mary J. Blige). Latifah says the goal in casting the project was to find singers who could act, rather than the other way around.
“Because if you can’t sing these songs then we’re a no-go,” she says. “ … You may think this is some sort of typical casting, but I’d behoove any of you to go into the Clark Sisters’ catalog and become familiar with their music. I don’t care if — especially if you’re trained in jazz or classical. I would love for you to listen to their music and try to break down their harmonies and the way that those tracks are built, and the way that they do their runs, and see if you can follow them, and see how challenging they are and how they bounce into different cadences. You’ve got to have a pocket. You’ve got to be able to really pull this off, and it’s no easy task. And people love the Clark Sisters so much that you have to pull it off, because they’re going to be looking at us like we better get this right!”
DOLLY PARTON SPECIAL ON SUNDAY
A&E Networks will present a biopic on the little blonde that could when it offers “Biography: Dolly” on Sunday. Dolly Parton, who composed and sang her way from poverty to penthouse, remains the classic example of American invention and fortitude. The special will feature interviews with Lily Tomlin, Chris Stapleton, Jane Fonda and Kylie Minogue, as well as Parton herself.
Parton tells me a turning point in her life came when she was just 10 years old.
“I discovered God in my own way in an abandoned church and I’d been trying to search Him out in the same way that all my family and relatives had. I grew up in a very religious family,” she says.
“I was kinda scared of God, but I knew that He was there and knew He was important. But I didn’t see Him in the same way that everybody else did. So I prayed a lot alone in this old abandoned church and I used to write songs there. And one day it was like a prayer of mine broke through, and it was when I found God for my personal self, what God meant to me personally. And I took that and gained strength from that and was never afraid of God after that and used Him as my partner, my manager, producer. God is like everything to me. He is my partner. That was a real turning point in my life when I found the strength that comes from God.”
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(Luaine Lee is a California-based correspondent who covers entertainment for Tribune News Service.)
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©2020 Luaine Lee
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.