Shirley MacLaine is set to join the cast of award-winning British TV drama "Downton Abbey" as the mother of Elizabeth McGovern's Countess of Grantham.
 
Maclaine will play American socialite Martha Levinson in the upcoming third season of the celebrated series, which begins shooting this spring.
 
Confirming the casting news, producer Gareth Naeme tells the BBC, "(Writer/creator) Julian (Fellowes) has written another brilliant character in Martha Levinson, who will be a wonderful combatant for Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess."