Elizabeth McGovern is best known for her role in "Downton Abbey" as Cora Crawley, the countess of Grantham. She is now taking on the role of legendary icon Ava Gardner on stage in Los Angeles. 

The play “Ava: The Secret Conversations,” which McGovern wrote, takes place at the end of Gardner's life. She decides to spill the tea about her career and love life to a ghostwriter played by actor Aaron Costa Ganis. "LA Times Today" host Lisa McRee sat down with McGovern at the Geffen Playhouse to talk about the project.

McGovern’s play based on a book by Peter Evans called "Conversations with Ava." 

"It occurred to me that it would be a marvelous way of exploring somebody's life to observe the exercise of a biographer trying to glean the life story of a subject who was ambivalent about telling her life story," McGovern said. "In the course of the book, he's trying to get stuff out of her all the time, and sometimes she's very forthcoming. And sometimes, she isn't, and they inevitably develop quite a close relationship."

McGovern talked about how the star coped with being a sex symbol and navigating public life. 

"There was no template for her," she said. "She was kind of making it up on her feet, but also contending with being literally the world's sexiest, most alluring woman and everything that goes along with that. So I think it was impossible for her to work out how to do it. The play focuses on her marriages really partly because there's pressure from the publisher to get these stories of these men, which is a reflection of the interests of the world."

Gardner was married to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and '50s. She was also connected to Howard Hughes. 

"Ava: The Secret Conversations" was originally staged in London. McGovern explained why she wanted to put it on again in LA. 

"There's nothing like doing something to really understand its flaws," she said. "You get to have another go. And I think we have really improved it."

“Ava: The Secret Conversations” is running at the Geffen Playhouse until May 14.

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview.

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