David Langton

David Langton
David Langton as Richard Bellamy
Born	Basil Muir Langton-Dodds (1912-04-16)16 April 1912 Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died	25 April 1994(1994-04-25) (aged 82) Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Years active	1955–1993
Spouse(s)	Mona Rosemary Copeman (1940–1966) (divorced) (3 sons) Claire Green (1975–1994) (his death)
Children	Simon Langton

David Muir Langton (born Basil Muir Langton-Dodds; 16 April 1912 – 25 April 1994) was a British actor who is best remembered for playing Richard Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs.

David Langton was born Basil Muir Langton-Dodds to a middle-class family in Motherwell, Lanarkshire in 1912. His father was a wine merchant and Langton's family moved to England when he was four years old. He attended a prep school in Bath, Somerset and left education at the age of 16. Langton's father had always encouraged him to go into acting and got him his first job touring with a small Shakespearean company.

At 19 years old, Langton left the theatre and went to live on Yell, a remote island in the Shetlands, and became a sheep farmer while attempting to become a writer. However, he later admitted this was a "disaster", and when he went back to the mainland when his mother was ill, he realised he did not want to return. In 1938, Langton returned to working full-time in theatre. It was at this time that he changed his name to David Langton, as there was already an actor called Basil Langton, and his legal name was David Muir Langton. However, in 1939 the war broke out and Langton soon enlisted. He first served in the Royal Artillery ending up a sergeant and was later commissioned in the Northumberland Hussars and ended up a major. Langton served in France, Germany and Belgium. He married his first wife, Rosemary, in 1940. When the war ended, they realised that the marriage had been a mistake, but stayed together for the sake of their three sons, Simon, Andrew and Robin. The eldest, Simon, a director, would later work with his father on the set of Upstairs, Downstairs. Langton divorced in 1966.