Gilded Age True Story: How The Real Vanderbilt Family Was Different
HBO’s new series The Gilded Age takes a close look at the families of New York’s High Society in the late 1800s. Much like other popular, scandal-filled period dramas like Bridgerton or Downton Abbey, The Gilded Age takes a fictionalized look at the lives and happenings of the rich, prominent families of New York, combining fact and fiction. The series was created by English actor and screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who also created Downton Abbey. Fellowes began developing The Gilded Age, which he described as an “American Downton,” for NBC in 2016 before the series eventually landed at HBO in 2019.
While the two families at the center of The Gilded Age, the Van Rhijn/Brook family, and the Russell family, are not real Gilded Age New York families, they reflect the real class distinctions made between the old-money families and new-money families during that time. The Van Rhijn/Brook family is an old-money family headed by a widowed matriarch named Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski), a stubborn New York City socialite who strictly adheres to the values of New York Society. She and her spinster sister, Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon), take in their niece Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) after the death of Marian’s father, their estranged brother. Agnes is scandalized when the Russells, a new-money family, moves into a new, lavish mansion across the street from their home. Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon), the wife of robber-baron George Russell (Morgan Spector), is determined to make her mark on high society New York, but quickly learns that the old-money wives don’t accept her into their exclusive inner circle.
Related: Downton Abbey: Why Cora’s Family Aren’t In The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age takes a fictionalized look at the lives of
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