NEW YORK, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. actress Shirley MacLaine said it was her idea for her outgoing character in "Downton Abbey" to sing a love song to Maggie Smith's strait-laced Lady Violet.
MacLaine was added to the cast for Season 3 of the ITV drama -- set in the early 20th century -- which airs in the United States Sundays on PBS under the network's Masterpiece programming banner. The actress plays Martha Levinson, the mother of Elizabeth McGovern's character Lady Grantham.