Awards Circuit Podcast: Also in this episode, 'Abbott Elementary's' Quinta Brunson and Randall Einhorn

Christine Baranski's mother was a Polish immigrant who survived the Great Depression and worked for years in an air-conditioning factory in Buffalo, New York. She was a far cry from Baranski's character in Julian Fellowes' HBO drama "The Gilded Age," the arrogant, domineering, elderly Agnes van Rhijn. But in an interview with Variety's Awards Circuit podcast, Baranski says she drew inspiration from her parents in bringing Agnes to life, a performance that's now nominated for an Emmy in one of six Season 2 nominations for the series — and the 16th of Baranski's illustrious career.

"I've seen a tough lady go through life," Baranski recalls. "They can be very grumpy and very strong and very controlling, but they get the job done." Agnes herself has endured a long, unhappy marriage to provide for her family, including her younger sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) and niece Marian (Louisa Jacobson). She's also a stern enforcer of the social order of her day, scoffing at infractions of etiquette and looking down on moneyed upstarts like her new neighbors, industrialist George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his wife Bertha (Carrie Coon).

This quality makes Agnes what Baranski calls "a walking declarative sentence": the source of the scripts' most devastating lines and a worthy successor to Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess, the scene-stealer from Fellowes' previous hit, "Downton Abbey." "Julian loves those female characters," Baranski observes. "He respects them. He gives them a sense of humor and resilience."