Douglas Reith

Birthday: 1953-07-16
Birthplace: Melton, Suffolk, England
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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).

Credits

Year Title Character
2025-09-10 Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale Richard Grey
2022-04-27 Downton Abbey: A New Era Lord Merton
2021-09-10 The War Below Field Marshal Haig
2021-08-11 SAS: Red Notice Sir Charles Whiteside
2019-09-12 Downton Abbey Lord Merton
2019-03-27 Dumbo Sotheby
2015-07-01 Serial Teachers 2 Le chef de la sécurité
2013-09-02 Rush Awards Presenter
2011-09-01 W.E. Lord Brownlow
2009-11-16 Enid BBC Interviewer
2006-09-15 The Queen Lord Airlie
2005-11-26 The Queen's Sister Horace Featherstonehaugh
1998-01-27 Bloodlines: Legacy of a Lord
1983-11-29 An Englishman Abroad Toby
1980-11-21 The Happy Autumn Fields Fitzgeorge
1978-07-19 International Velvet Howard