Richard E. Grant Biography

Richard E. Grant (born Richard Grant Esterhuysen; 5 May 1957) is a Swazi-born English actor, screenwriter, and director. He came to public attention in 1987 for playing Withnail in the film Withnail and I, and achieved recognition as John Seward in 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Early life

Grant was born Richard Grant Esterhuysen in Mbabane, Swaziland. His father, Henrik Esterhuysen, was head of education for the British government administration in the British Protectorate of Swaziland. His father had English and Dutch/Afrikaner ancestry and his mother was of English and German descent.

As a boy, Grant went to primary school at St Mark's, a local government school in Mbabane that had only recently become racially integrated. When Grant was ten years old, he witnessed his mother commit adultery on the back seat of a car with his father's best friend, which subsequently led to his parents' divorce. This event inspired Grant to keep a daily diary, which he has continued to do ever since. Grant wears a watch on each wrist, one given to him by his dying father, permanently set on Swaziland time.

Grant attended secondary school at Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (UWCSA), an independent school just outside Mbabane, where he was a day scholar. Grant studied English and drama at the University of Cape Town. He adopted his stage name when he moved to Britain as an adult and registered with Equity.

Career

Grant was a member of the Space Theatre Company in Cape Town before moving to London in 1982. He later stated, "I grew up in Swaziland when it was mired in a 1960s sensibility. The kind of English spoken where I grew up was a period English sound and when I came to England people said, 'how strange'. Charles Sturridge, who directed Brideshead Revisited for TV, said, 'you speak English like someone from the 1950s'."

Grant's first film role was the perpetually inebriated title character in Withnail and I, which has established a large cult following. Following this film, Grant started appearing in Hollywood films, quickly establishing himself as a powerful character actor in a wide array of films, from blockbuster studio movies to small independent projects. Over the past twenty years, Grant has had strong supporting roles in the films Henry & June, L.A. Story, The Player, The Age of Innocence, The Portrait of a Lady, Spice World, Gosford Park, Bright Young Things, and Penelope.

While filming L.A. Story with Steve Martin, the pair communicated by fax in what became for both an hilarious dialogue: "I kept these faxes, which grew to a stack more than 2in thick, because they entertained me, and because I thought they were valuable aesthetic chunks from a screeching mind, a stream-of-consciousness faucet spewing sentences - sometimes a mile long - none of it rewritten, and bearing just the right amount of acid and alkaline."

In 1995, Grant starred as the titular character in Peter Capaldi's short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life. The film won the 1995 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Grant has twice portrayed the Doctor from Doctor Who, both outside the main continuity. In the comedy sketch Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, he portrayed a version of the Tenth Doctor, referred to as the Quite Handsome Doctor. He also voiced a version of the Ninth Doctor for the BBC original animated webcast Scream of the Shalka. The latter had intended to be the official Ninth Doctor prior the revival of the TV series. In August, 2012, the BBC announced that Grant would join the cast of Doctor Who for "The Snowmen", in which he plays a villain, Dr. Walter Simeon. He appeared again in the following episode, "The Bells of Saint John" as the Great Intelligence, one of the Second Doctor's most infamous villains and, prior to "The Snowmen" (played by Ian McKellen), was last seen in The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear. Grant reprises the role in the series 7 finale, "The Name of the Doctor".

On 1 December 2006, Grant turned real life investigator when, with the help of BBC Newsnight, he exposed a $98 million scam to sell a bogus AIDS cure.

Grant appeared as "The Voice" in 2+2+2 at American Nights at The King's Head Theatre, from 3 to 29 July 2007, and also recently co-starred in the London-based comedy Filth and Wisdom, a film which marks the directorial debut of pop singer Madonna.

On 22 November 2007, he gave a keynote speech at North London Collegiate School in north London as part of their Performing Arts Centre Opening Festival, and presented the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards.

In 2008, he made his musical theatre debut with Opera Australia, playing the role of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, at the Theatre Royal, Sydney.

In 2009. he played Alain Reille in Yasmina Reza's one-act play God of Carnage at the Theatre Royal, Bath: and subsequently at Cheltenham, Canterbury, Richmond, Brighton and Milton Keynes.

Grant is also an author, having written an autobiography and a novel called By Design that is set in Hollywood.

Richard E. Grant is a mentor on the British Airways Great Britons Programme, and will mentor a British talent to write a script that will be produced into a short film and shown on BA flights and at the pre-opening of the Olympic Games ceremony.

In March 2013 Grant starred as Brian Jones (intelligence analyst) in David Morley (writer)'s drama "The Iraq Dossier", with Peter Firth, Anton Lesser, David Caves, and Lindsay Duncan. It recounted the story of how British Ministry of Defence Intelligence expert Brian Jones (intelligence analyst) had tried to warn that his government's September Dossier on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction was inaccurate.

On 9 May 2015 Grant gave a reading at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London.

In 2016 joined the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 6 as Izembaro.

Wah-Wah

Grant wrote and directed the 2005 film Wah-Wah, loosely based on his own childhood experiences. A screenwriter recommended he write a screenplay, after reading Grant's memoirs of his Withnail and I experience.

The film took him over seven years to complete, and starred Nicholas Hoult in the lead role, with Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Julie Walters and Emily Watson.

Grant kept a diary of the experience, later published as a book (The Wah-Wah Diaries). The book received positive reviews from critics, many of whom were impressed by the honesty of the tale, especially in regard to his difficult relationship with the "inexperienced" producer Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar.

Grant stated in subsequent interviews that she was a "control freak out of control", and that he would "never see her again as long as [he] live[s]." In a BBC interview, he again mentioned his "disastrous" relationship with Mention-Schaar. He related that he had received only five emails from her in the last two months of pre-production, and that she rarely turned up on the set at all. She failed to obtain clearance firstly for song rights, and secondly to actually film in Swaziland. For the last infraction Grant was eventually forced to meet with the King of Swaziland to seek clemency.

During an interview with an Australian chat show, he mentioned that Wah-Wah was not released in France, and as a result, his producer did not make money out of it.

Personal life

Grant married voice coach Joan Washington in 1986 and has one daughter with her (Olivia) and a stepson (Tom).

Grant is a teetotaller. He is intolerant to alcohol, having no enzymes in the blood to metabolise it. If he does drink alcohol, he can keep it down for 10 minutes and is then violently sick for 24 hours afterward. After casting him as the alcoholic Withnail, director Bruce Robinson made Grant drink a bottle of champagne and half a bottle of vodka during the course of a night so that he had experience of the sensation.

He also appeared on BBC1's show Saturday Kitchen on 14 July 2007, where he stated he detests dairy products, while his favourite food is giant prawns on a bed of rice. In October 2008, he told The Times that he is an atheist. He is an avid follower of West Ham United, and appeared on Sky Sports' Soccer AM to show his support for the team on the morning of the 2006 FA Cup Final.

In April 2014, Grant launched his new unisex perfume, JACK, exclusively at Liberty of Regent Street. Anya Hindmarch is credited with the conception, Lyn Harris of Miller-Harris helped him create the scent and Perry Haydn Taylor's big fish created the website.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Withnail and I	Withnail
1989	Warlock	Giles Redferne
1989	How to Get Ahead in Advertising	Denis Dimbleby Bagley
1989	Killing Dad	Ali Berg
1990	Mountains of the Moon	Larry Oliphant
1990	Henry & June	Hugo Guiler
1991	Hudson Hawk	Darwin Mayflower	Nominated Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
1991	L.A. Story	Roland Mackey
1992	The Player	Tom Oakley
1992	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Dr. Jack Seward
1993	The Age of Innocence	Larry Lefferts
1993	Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life	Franz Kafka	Short film
1994	Prt--Porter	Cort Romney	National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble
1995	Jack and Sarah	Jack
1996	The Portrait of a Lady	Lord Warburton
1996	Twelfth Night: Or What You Will	Sir Andrew Aguecheek
1996	The Cold Light of Day	Victor Marek
1997	The Serpent's Kiss	James Fitzmaurice
1997	Keep the Aspidistra Flying	Gordon Comstock
1997	Spiceworld: The Movie	Clifford
1998	St. Ives	Major Farquhar Chevening
1999	The Match	Gorgeous Gus
1999	A Christmas Carol	Bob Crachit
2000	The Little Vampire	Frederick Sackville-Bagg
2000	The Miracle Maker	John the Baptist	Voice
2001	Gosford Park	George	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Satellite Special Achievement Award - Ensemble Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2003	Monsieur N.	Hudson Lowe
2003	Bright Young Things	Father Rothschild
2004	The Story of an African Farm	Bonaparte Blenkins
2004	Tooth	Jarvis Jarvis
2005	Wah-Wah		Writer, director
2005	Corpse Bride	Lord Barkis Bittern	Voice
2005	Colour Me Kubrick	Jasper
2006	Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties	Preston	Voice
2007	Always Crashing in the Same Car	James Booth
2008	Penelope	Franklin Wilhern
2008	The Garden of Eden	Colonel Philip Boyle
2008	Filth and Wisdom	Professor Flynn
2009	Love Hurts	Ben Bingham
2009	Cuckoo	Professor Julius Greengrass
2010	First Night	Adam
2010	Jackboots on Whitehall	Campbell Babbitt	Voice
2010	The Nutcracker in 3D	Father
2011	Horrid Henry: The Movie	Vic Van Wrinkle
2011	The Iron Lady	Michael Heseltine
2012	Foster	Mr. Potts
2012	Kath & Kimderella	Alain
2012	Zambezia	Cecil	Voice
2013	Khumba	Bradley	Voice
2013	Dom Hemingway	Dickie
2013	About Time	Lawyer in Play	Uncredited
2014	Queen and Country	Major Cross
2016	Jackie	William Walton
2016	Their Finest		Completed
2017	Untitled Wolverine film		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Screen Two	Moonee Livingstone	Episode: "Honest, Decent & True"
1988	Codename: Kyril	Sculby
1994	Absolutely Fabulous	Justin	Episode: "Hospital" (#2.1)
1996	Karaoke	Nick Balmer
1996	A Royal Scandal	King George IV
1997	Captain Star	Captain Jim Star
19992000	The Scarlet Pimpernel	Sir Percy Blakeney The Scarlet Pimpernel
1999	Trial & Retribution III	Stephen Warrington
1999	Let Them Eat Cake	Monsieur Vige-Lebrun	Episode: "The Portrait"
1999	Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death	The Conceited Doctor
2001	The Kumars at No. 42	Himself	Episode: "Richard E. Grant and Michael Parkinson"
2002	Sherlock: Case of Evil	Mycroft Holmes
2002	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Jack Stapleton
2004	Posh Nosh	Simon Marchmont
2004	Frasier	Stephen Moon	Episode: "Goodnight, Seattle"
2004	90 Days in Hollywood	Narrator
2004	The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody	Narrator
2005	Home Farm Twins	Paul Baker
2006	Above and Beyond	Don Bennett
2007	Dalziel and Pascoe	Lee Knight
2007	Mumbai Calling	Benedict T. Harlow
2007	Marple: Nemesis	Raymond West
2011	The Crimson Petal and the White	Dr. Curlew
2011	A Quiet Word With ...	Himself
2011	Rab C Nesbitt	Chingford Steel
2012	Richard E. Grant's Hotel Secrets	Himself
2012	The Fear	Seb Whiting
2012	The History of Safari With Richard E Grant	Himself
20122013	Doctor Who	Dr. Simeon / The Great Intelligence	3 Episodes: "The Snowmen", "The Bells of Saint John" and "The Name of the Doctor"
2013	The French Riviera: A History in Pictures	Himself	Presenter
2014	Girls	Jasper
2014	Downton Abbey	Simon Bricker	Four Episodes
2015	Wellington: The Iron Duke Unmasked	Wellington	Documentary
2015	Jekyll and Hyde	Sir Roger Bulstrode
2016	Game of Thrones	Izembaro	3 Episodes: "The Door", "Blood of My Blood" and "No One"

Other

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Legends of Treasure Island	Long John Silver
2003	Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka	The Shalka Doctor
2013	Fuck: An Irreverent History of the F-Word	Narrator	Audiobook
2013	The Pillars of the Earth	Narrator	Audiobook
	World Without End	Narrator	Audiobook
	Pinocchio's Daring Journey	Stromboli Coachman

Bibliography

• The Wah-Wah Diaries: The Making of a Film. 2006. ISBN 0-330-44196-5 (hardcover).
• With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E. Grant. ISBN 0-87951-828-6 (hardcover). ISBN 0-87951-935-5 (paperback).
• By Design: A Hollywood Novel. Picador, 1999. ISBN 0-330-36829-X (10). ISBN 978-0-330-36829-2 (13).