Beauty much more useful than brains, says Downton Abbey writer

HE IS a Cambridge graduate who has garnered acclaim for his ability to craft captivating novels and scripts.

But despite his own intelligence, Julian Fellowes says he thinks it’s more important to be beautiful than brainy.

When asked which of the four gifts he felt was most important – beauty, brains, birth or money – the Downton Abbey creator said being good looking was a ‘wonderful open sesame’ for opportunities.

He said: ‘I think if you have no brains at all that is a bit of a gamble but as long as you’ve got a union minimum then I think beauty [is more important].

‘I think beauty opens doors and people like to be with people who are beautiful.

‘[It helps] if you want a lift on the roadway, if you want promotion, if you want to be asked to entertainments you want to go to.’

Speaking at a Belgravia Society charity evening at London’s COMO Hotel, the 67year-old added: ‘Particularly for women, someone of 19 who is very beautiful can sit next to the prime minister and it’s his lucky night. That’s not true of someone,

‘Nobody wants to sit next to you’

who like me, was not beautiful and was spotty and you’re 18 – nobody wants to sit next to you. Of course you need the brains to build on that, because [ beauty] opens doors but you’ve then got to have something about you to do something with the opportunities.’

The Cambridge alumnus, who attended Catholic boarding school Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Gosford Park in 2002. Discussing his own talents, the father- of- one said: ‘I had moderate “birth”, enough to get me on the list of Peter Townend but that was about it.’

In 1968, while the scriptwriter was still reading English at university, Tatler’s social editor Mr Townend listed him as one of his young men for the season.

Lord Fellowes added: ‘I had no looks at all. Whatever money I had came later, but I think I did have some brains.

‘So I suppose I was brain reliant to make it work but it took a long time and my big break came when I was 50.’