Shirley MacLaine. ©Pacific Rim Photo Press. (Click on photo for hi-res version.)

By a Front Row Features Staff Report

HOLLYWOOD—Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine (“Terms of Endearment,” “The Apartment”) will join the cast of the popular PBS series “Downton Abbey,”  when filming begins on the third season next month.  (The second season of the British period drama currently is running on PBS.) In a deal brokered by ICM International Creative Management, MacLaine will play new character Martha Levinson, mother of Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern).