Loading amazing content...
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
July 16, 1953
Place of Birth
Melton, Suffolk, England, UK
Douglas Reith
1.0 Popularity
Biography
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
7.2
Lord Merton
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
2025
7.2
Lord Merton
Downton Abbey: A New Era
2022
6.6
Field Marshal Haig
The War Below
2021
5.8
Sir Charles Whiteside
SAS: Red Notice
2021
7.3
Dean
Professor T
2021
7.1
Lord Merton
Downton Abbey
2019
5.5
Prescott Fleming
Pandora
2019
6.6
Sotheby
Dumbo
2019
6.7
Justice Angus Hill
Fearless
2017
8.2
Admiral Leach
The Crown
2016
Credits
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
as Lord Merton
2025
7.2
Downton Abbey: A New Era
as Lord Merton
2022
7.2
The War Below
as Field Marshal Haig
2021
6.6
SAS: Red Notice
as Sir Charles Whiteside
2021
5.8
Professor T
as Dean
2021
7.3
Downton Abbey
as Lord Merton
2019
7.1
Pandora
as Prescott Fleming
2019
5.5
Dumbo
as Sotheby
2019
6.6
Fearless
as Justice Angus Hill
2017
6.7
The Crown
as Admiral Leach
2016
8.2
Agatha Raisin
as Lord Pendlebury
2016
6.1
Serial Teachers 2
as Le chef de la sécurité
2015
5.3
Outlander
as Professor Brown
2014
8.2
Rush
as Awards Presenter
2013
7.7
W.E.
as Lord Brownlow
2011
6.3
Downton Abbey
as Lord Merton
2010
8.1
Enid
as BBC Interviewer
2009
6.4
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
as Metellus
2006
7.4
The Queen
as Lord Airlie
2006
6.9
The Queen's Sister
as Horace Featherstonehaugh
2005
5.3
Elizabeth I
as Judge
2005
7.2
Elizabeth I
as Jude
2005
7.2
Rose and Maloney
2002
6.2
Bloodlines: Legacy of a Lord
1998
5.0
The Prince and the Pauper
as Chamberlain
1996
0.0
🎬
Cold Warrior
as Ferris
1984
0.0
An Englishman Abroad
as Toby
1983
5.7
The Happy Autumn Fields
as Fitzgeorge
1980
0.0
Minder
as Bellars
1979
6.8
International Velvet
as Howard
1978
7.4
Rumpole of the Bailey
as Sergeant Downs
1975
6.9
Playhouse
as Fitzgeorge
1974
7.0