Downton Abbey - Mary Crawley/Michelle Dockery #1: "Haven't you heard? I don't have a heart"

holding my heart · 04-01-2012, 01:22 AM

Welcome to the first Mary Crawley [Michelle Dockery] thread

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Mary Crawley

Mary Josephine Crawley the eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Grantham. She was born in 1892. In the first episode, the news of the deaths of her two cousins, James and Patrick, is a shock to her because it disrupts the family's strategy for dealing with the entail that requires the estate, incorporating her mother's large marriage settlement, as well as the title to pass to male heirs. The family had arranged that Mary would marry Patrick, second in line to the title after James, but Mary did not have strong feelings for him and questions whether she must even wear mourning. Early on in the series, she is seduced by a visitor to the house, Ottoman attaché Kamel Pamuk, who suddenly dies in her bed. Her infuriated mother and the housemaid Anna help her carry his body out of her room and back to his own in order to try to prevent a public scandal that would ruin her marriage prospects.

Mary's relationship with the new heir, distant cousin Matthew Crawley, begins coldly as she overhears him complaining to his mother that he expects the family will "throw" the daughters at him. Over time, however, the pair grow closer and a romance develops. In 1914, Matthew Crawley asks Mary to marry him, but she is cautious and says she won't give him an answer until the end of the London Season in August. However her mother becomes pregnant, and if the baby is a boy, he will inherit the title instead of Matthew, so Mary refuses Matthew on the advice of her aunt, Lady Rosamond. Matthew is quick to grasp her reasoning and leaves Downton for a time. While he is away, Mary gets engaged to Sir Richard Carlisle, a newspaper magnate who, when Mary confesses to it and asks for his assistance, promises to help keep the Pamuk affair under wraps. They plan to marry in July 1919, after the marriage of Matthew and his new fiancée Lavinia, and to move to a neighbouring, stately home that Sir Richard plans to buy. After Lavinia's death, it becomes clear that Matthew and Mary still have feelings for each other. In 1920, Mary breaks off the engagement to Sir Richard and initially agrees to move to America to live with her grandmother and maid Anna. However, Matthew again proposes to her on bended knee, and the two get engaged.

Michelle Dockery

Dockery is the youngest of three daughters of Michael Dockery, a native of Athlone, Ireland, who worked his way up from driving a van to becoming a surveyor, and his wife Lorraine, is from Stepney, East London. After working as a driver, in his 50s, her father graduated in occupational hygiene and qualified as an environmental analyst, becoming the first person to survey the British bases in Antarctica. Dockery's great-grandmother Maud Malyon was born in 1910 in Newham, East London, and was a domestic servant. She was just 17 when she married grocer’s assistant William Henry Oakman, 18, at West Ham Register Office.

She was born and brought up in Romford, East London. She was educated first at the Chadwell Heath Foundation School in Chadwell Heath, later known as Chadwell Heath Academy. She was then trained at the Finch Stage School. At the age of 18, with two A-levels, she won a place at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Guildhall School of Music & Drama). She graduated from London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2004.

She was a member of the National Youth Theatre, studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she won the Gold Medal for drama and made her professional debut in His Dark Materials at the Royal National Theatre in 2004. In 2006, she was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for her performance as Dina Dorf in Pillars of the Community at the National Theatre.

She appeared in Burnt by the Sun at the National Theatre for which she received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in Peter Hall's production of Pygmalion at the Theatre Royal, Bath, which toured the UK and transferred to The Old Vic in 2008, and for the same production was nominated Best Newcomer at the Evening Standard Awards 2008.

In 2010, she played Ophelia in Hamlet at the Crucible Theatre alongside John Simm.

Dockery made her television debut as Betty in Fingersmith in 2005.

In 2006, she starred as Susan Sto Helit in a two-part adaptation of Terry Pratchett's novel Hogfather.

In 2008, Dockery played Kathryn in Channel 4's The Red Riding Trilogy and played the guest lead of tormented rape victim Gemma Morrison in BBC`s Waking the Dead. In 2009, she appeared in the two-part Cranford Christmas special for the BBC, and starred as the lead character in a modernised BBC adaptation of The Turn of the Screw.

She came to public prominence in 2010 when she played Lady Mary Crawley in Julian Fellowes' series Downton Abbey, the first season of which was screened on ITV between September and November 2010. She was nominated for a Southbank Award in January for Best Breakthrough Performance in a TV drama. A second series of Downton Abbey was shown in 2011, followed by a special Christmas Day episode, and a third series has been commissioned for broadcast in September 2012.

kindness is free · 04-01-2012, 03:30 AM

Thanks again Candice

Michelle is my favourite and she is amazing as Mary

Please add me when you make a supporters list

sofiab · 04-01-2012, 03:52 AM

Add me too

Mary is a fascinating character. There are so many layers to discover. What I liked the most about her in the beginning was how she didn’t want to fit in a world that had pre-established what role she would play in it; how she refused to get married with someone that she didn’t love.

Michelle plays Mary in a fantastic way.

THE SORROWS OF GIN

kindness is free · 04-01-2012, 03:53 AM

I agree there are so many layers to Mary and Michelle plays her wonderfully

holding my heart · 04-01-2012, 04:37 AM

She is such a twisted character. <3

DUHsoTK · 04-01-2012, 05:18 AM

Please add me

She's so complex

hlgreenie · 04-01-2012, 05:22 AM

Please add me

She became my fav character during series 1

kindness is free · 04-01-2012, 07:36 AM

Welcome Teresa and hlgreenie

Mary is such a complex and interesting character

zazie87 · 04-01-2012, 08:05 AM

Add me please!

***L i N d $ @ y*** · 04-01-2012, 09:28 AM

Add me please!

I love Lady Mary!!!

**AlwaysCB** · 04-01-2012, 09:38 AM

add me please!

***L i N d $ @ y*** · 04-01-2012, 01:10 PM

And you most certainly notice how different she is in s2. That Pamuk experience definitely changed her. Ahhhh, wedding bliss in s3. I can't wait.

kindness is free · 04-01-2012, 02:16 PM

Welcome everyone

There is a big difference in Mary in S2

it was great to see a different layer to Mary

***L i N d $ @ y*** · 04-01-2012, 03:12 PM

She's definitely changed in s2. She was willing to marry Richard and risk losing the love of her life only to hide her scandal with Pamuk. She's brave even if she doesn't like to admit it herself.

OMG, her sad eyes in this ep. I can't even.

heimweh · 04-01-2012, 04:54 PM

My favourite Crawley girl has always been Sybil, but she's such a complex character and Michelle plays her brilliantly. Add me please


Fan Forum > Archived Television Shows > Downton Abbey > Mary Crawley/Michelle Dockery #1: "Haven't you heard? I don't have a heart"