People

Elizabeth McGovern

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Elizabeth McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American film, television, and theater actress. In 1980, while studying at Juilliard, McGovern was offered a part in her first film, Ordinary People, in which she played the girlfriend of troubled teenager Timothy Hutton. The following year she completed her education as an actress at the American Conservatory Theatre and at The Juilliard School, and began to appear in plays, first Off-Broadway and later in famous theaters. In 1981, she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Evelyn Nesbit in the film Ragtime. In 1984, she starred in Sergio Leone's gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America as Robert De Niro's romantic interest, Deborah Gelly. In 1989, she played Mickey Rourke's girlfriend in Johnny Handsome, directed by Walter Hill, and the same year she appeared as a rebellious lesbian in Volker Schlöndorff's thriller The Handmaid's Tale.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

Clash of the Titans

Appears in a KinoChain journey

A Shock to the System

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Once Upon a Time in America

As Deborah

Kick-Ass

As Mrs. Lizewski

The Commuter

As Karen MacCauley

Downton Abbey

As Cora Crawley

Ordinary People

As Jeannine Pratt

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

As Cora Crawley

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

Remakes That Missed but Matter

From Neil LaBute's Wicker Man to Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, a journey through remakes that stumbled yet reveal why we keep returning to the classics.

8 films

The Camera as Weapon

From Chris Hansen's sting operations to the blood sport of nightly news, this chain traces the moral rot at the heart of spectacle.

8 films

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