Julian Fellowes to Receive International Emmy Founders Award

“Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes will be feted with the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ 2015 International Emmy Founders Award, the academy announced Monday. Fellowes will be honored on November 23 at the 43rd International Emmy Awards Gala in New York.

“People everywhere know, follow and are passionate about ‘Downton Abbey,’ and the Academy is thrilled to honor its writer and creator Julian Fellowes,” said Academy president and CEO Bruce L. Paisner in a statement. “Julian has brought a career’s worth of experience and ideas to this landmark television series, and we look forwarding to welcoming him and members of the ‘Downton Abbey’ cast at our Gala.”

“Downton Abbey” chronicles the lives of the upper-class Crawley family and its servants in Edwardian England. It was recently announced that the series’ upcoming sixth season will be its last.

Fellowes expressed his gratitude for the award in a statement. “This is an extraordinary honor, both for me and for the ‘Downton’ team, and I can only say that I feel simultaneously unworthy and very, very grateful. It is a significant high point of my career. Thank you,” Fellowes said.

Prior to the acclaim he won for “Downton,” Fellowes was best known for penning the screenplays for “Gosford Park” and “Vanity Fair.” He is slated to write “The Gilded Age,” a NBCUniversal series about financial bigwigs in 1880s New York.

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