Which actor plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham?

Hugh Bonneville plays Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in Downton Abbey.

Robert is the seventh Earl of Grantham and the head of the Crawley family. He lives at Downton Abbey with his wife, Cora, and their daughters Mary, Edith, and Sybil. As estate owner, Robert tries to preserve the house and its traditions while adapting to social, financial, and technological changes between the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and the series’ later twentieth-century setting.

Hugh Bonneville’s performance presents Robert as dutiful and protective, but also as a traditionalist whose decisions are challenged by changing ideas about inheritance, women’s independence, and modern business. The role made Bonneville internationally recognisable and earned him major award nominations, including a Golden Globe nomination.

Viewers commonly mix him up with Jim Carter, who plays the strict but loyal butler Mr Carson, or Brendan Coyle, who plays the valet John Bates. Kevin Doyle is another frequent mix-up because he plays the sometimes anxious footman-turned-under-butler Joseph Molesley. Bonneville is the actor associated with Lord Grantham himself.