Biography
Douglas Reith is a British actor and teacher. He is best known for playing Lord Merton in the television series Downton Abbey (2010–2015) and its films Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).
Born in Melton, Suffolk, Reith trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He began acting in the late 1970s with a role in International Velvet (1978). He worked as an announcer and presenter at BBC Radio 3, studied Greats at Christ Church, Oxford, and taught at Westminster School before resuming his acting career.
Reith appeared as Lord Airlie in The Queen (2006). He and the Downton Abbey cast were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
