The world is remembering Robert Redford in the wake of his death on Tuesday. The beloved actor, director, and activist was surrounded by loved ones when he died at his home, “at Sundance in the mountains of Utah.” He was 89.
Among those who looked back fondly at their time with Redford are Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern, who was only 18 years old when Redford directed her in the 1980 drama Ordinary People, starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton.
The film, based on Judith Guest’s 1976 novel, marked Redford’s feature directorial debut. During a conversation with Jesse Tyler Ferguson on his Dinner’s On Me podcast, recorded at Estiatorio Milos in Hudson Yards, McGovern recalled a dilemma that Redford so effortlessly solved with his trademark kindness.
McGovern shared that she had previously applied to attend the prestigious Juilliard School before auditioning and then landing a small role in Ordinary People, which also marked her feature film debut.
McGovern, 18 at the time, nearly pulled out of the project because she got accepted into Juilliard, but Redford had a solution that worked for everybody.
“I remember having an initial meeting with him and saying, ‘I’m just really, I don’t know what to do because I’ve applied for school and I’ve gotten in, and I don’t know whether I should go to school or do the movie,'” McGovern recalled.
McGovern landed the role of Jeannine Pratt, which she said wasn’t “a huge part” in the movie, and it required her for only five days.
Related: Meryl Streep Pays Tribute to Former Co-Star Robert Redford
“But he said, ‘Listen. You go to school, and we’ll just schedule around you,'” McGovern recalled Redford telling her. “And he actually blew me up whenever I had a weekend off and we shot those scenes. I mean, that’s just a caring thing to do for an 18-year-old kid.”
McGovern, of course, would go on to be an Academy Award-nominated actress (Ragtime), which would help her land major roles in studio films, including Once Upon a Time in America, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Wings of the Dove.
She is famously known for portraying Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, in the BBC drama Downton Abbey, which earned her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
