Douglas Reith
Douglas Reith is a British actor and teacher. He is best known for his role as Lord Merton in the television series Downton Abbey (2010–2015), as well as its two follow-up films. Reith was born in Melton, Suffolk. He studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He began acting in the late 1970s, beginning with an appearance in International Velvet (1978) alongside Tatum O'Neal and Christopher Plummer. He worked as an announcer and presenter at BBC Radio 3 for five years before leaving to study Greats at Christ Church, Oxford for four years beginning in 1989. He worked as a teacher, including at Westminster School, before resuming his acting career. Reith joined the cast of Downton Abbey as Lord Merton in 2012, and alongside the cast was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards. He reprised the role in the films Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022). In 2017, Reith was cast in Tim Burton's live-action remake Dumbo (2019). In 2019, he was cast in SAS: Red Notice (2021).
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale as Richard Grey
- 2022 · Downton Abbey: A New Era as Lord Merton
- 2021 · The War Below as Field Marshal Haig
- 2021 · SAS: Red Notice as Sir Charles Whiteside
- 2021 · Professor T as Dean
- 2019 · Downton Abbey as Lord Merton
- 2019 · Pandora as Prescott Fleming
- 2019 · Dumbo as Sotheby
- 2017 · Fearless as Justice Angus Hill
- 2016 · The Crown as Admiral Leach
- 2016 · Agatha Raisin as Lord Pendlebury
- 2015 · Serial Teachers 2 as Le chef de la sécurité
- 2014 · Outlander as Professor Brown
- 2013 · Rush as Awards Presenter
- 2011 · W.E. as Lord Brownlow
- 2010 · Downton Abbey as Lord Merton
- 2009 · Enid as BBC Interviewer
- 2006 · Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire as Metellus
- 2006 · The Queen as Lord Airlie
- 2005 · The Queen's Sister as Horace Featherstonehaugh
- 2005 · Elizabeth I as Jude
- 2005 · Elizabeth I as Judge
- 2002 · Rose and Maloney as
- 1998 · Bloodlines: Legacy of a Lord as
- 1996 · The Prince and the Pauper as Chamberlain
- 1983 · An Englishman Abroad as Toby
- 1980 · The Happy Autumn Fields as Fitzgeorge
- 1979 · Minder as Bellars
- 1978 · International Velvet as Howard