Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham

Robert Crawley presides over Downton Abbey as its Earl, a man who sees himself as steward rather than owner of the estate, land, and name he'll pass to the next generation. He loves his wife and three daughters, believes deeply in duty and tradition, and is thrown by the sudden legal crisis threatening to strip his family of everything upon his death.

Bonneville plays Robert as decent but not wise, a patriarch whose good intentions keep colliding with a changing world he doesn't quite understand. The performance finds real warmth in his blustering formality, so that his stubbornness reads as fear of failing the people depending on him rather than mere snobbery.