SOME actors are fortunate enough to bag one era-defining role and that certainly proved to be the case for Richard E Grant.
THE Swaziland-born star of Withnail and I entertained a packed out auditorium at the De LA Warr in a two-hour plus show packed with anecdotes about his childhood, the death of his beloved wife and how he established his career in Britain after a somewhat rocky start.
Grant had arrived in Britain with little more than a suitcase and dreams of making it in the notoriously tough film business.
He scratched a living initially while living in West London before the opportunity of a lifetime cropped up as he auditioned for the title role in notoriously difficult writer-drictor Bruce-Robinson’s semi-autobiographical film Withnail and I.
The film, which has become a cult classic over the years certainly evokes fond memories for those of a certain age with Grant playing the alcoholic, chain-smoking title character.
It was a role made for him, even though in real life the affable Grant neither drinks alcohol nor smokes.
“I am allergic to alcohol,” he quipped. “It makes me violently ill so I don’t drink. I have no enzymes in my blood to metabolise it.”
When quizzed by a member of the audience about the character’s overwhelming desire to drink whatever alcohol he could get his hands on, including “the finest wines known to humanity” the star revealed that in fact all the cast were swigging was Ribena.
He added that the scene when the scene involving he and Paul McGann played out the scene with Uncle Monty, superbly portrayed by Richard Griffiths, there were so many re-shoots of the scene where they all tucked in to roast lamb that Grant had to have a bucket out of sight next to him so he could throw up. “I have never eaten lamb since,” he said.
Although the show was awash with humour, it also brought a lump to the threat when he discussed the death of his beloved wife, the voice coach Joan Washington, who died of stage four lung cancer in September 2021.
They had been married since 1986 and her death, Grant admitted, has left a huge void in his life. His description of the last few hours he spent with her before she died were absolutely heartbreaking.
He had met her when attending her classes even though as a struggling actor he could barely afford them but she took pity on him, cooked him dinner, he stayed the night and a true love story was born.
In addition, he recounted tales of his extremely turbulent childhood, which included a throughly miserable time at boarding school before returning to the family home where matters became even worse.
“My mum had an affair with my dad’s best friend at that time,” he recounted. “They were both keen golfers but mum embarked on an affair with the friend. He basically scored a hole in one.”
Unsurprisingly in the aftermath his dade turned to drink which culminated in the then teenage Grant pouring almost his entire stash of whisky down the sink.
He said: “I had managed to pour about 11-and-a-half of 12 bottles away when he caught me in the act.
“We had a huge row which culminated in the garden. He was drunk and held a loaded pistol to my temple.
‘Go on then, pull the trigger’. As the young Richard threw himself to the floor his dad did just that, the bullet missing him by a whisker. Had his dad succeeded, it could have been a very different story as there would have been no Withnail nor the Oscar nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me, the wonderful 2018 film he made with Melissa McCarthy.
After the interval, Grant then took questions from the audience with his usual self-deprecating wit and considerable candour.
One questioner asked whether he was dating again. “No, I am not ready for that yet,” he replied with a wry smile. “It has only been 18 months since my wife died.”
It was the perfect end to a wonderful evening, although the actor was further detained afterwards in the foyer as he signed copies of his latest autobiography entitled A Pocketful of Happiness.
“Everyone should try and have a pocketful of happiness each day,” he said. How true and how apt.
