RICHARD E. GRANT

'Richard E. Grant' (born 'Richard Grant Esterhuysen' on May 5, 1957) is a British actor. Among his best-known roles is the world-weary, drug-crazed alcoholic Withnail in ''Withnail and I''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Selected filmography

Films

Television

Voice acting

Bibliography

Footnotes

External links

Biography

Early life

Grant was born in Mbabane, Swaziland, and educated in Waterford Kamhlaba School. At the age of nine, Grant witnessed an adulterous relationship between his mother and another man which subsequently led to the break-up of his parents' marriage. At this moment, he started keeping a diary and has done so ever since. He wears a watch on each wrist, one given to him by his dying father, permanently set on Swaziland time. [1].He studied English and Drama at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and moved to London in 1982. He married Joan Washington in 1986 and has one daughter with her, Olivia, and a step-son, Tom.

Career

Grant is a successful author, with works such as ''By Design'' calling on his Hollywood experience. He was also for a time the face of the Argos TV commercials. He has played The Doctor from ''Doctor Who'' twice, unofficially on both occasions. 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''. Grant was also rumoured to be a possible choice for the Doctor as part of the series' resurrection in 2005, though both his Doctor Who appearances are deemed to be non-canon.
He wrote and directed the 2005 film, ''Wah-Wah'', loosely based on his own childhood experiences. In 2007, Grant will star in the movie adaptation of Irvine Welsh's best-selling novel ''.

Grant will appear as "The Voice" in ''2+2+2'' at ''American Nights at The King's Head Theatre'', from July 3 to July 29, 2007.

Personal life

On December 1st 2006 Richard E Grant turned real life investigator when with the help of the BBC Newsnight programme he exposed a $98 million scam to sell a bogus AIDS cure.^[1]
Grant is a teetotaler. After casting him as the alcoholic Withnail, director Bruce Robinson made Grant drink a bottle of vodka in one sitting so that he had experience of the sensation.
He appeared on BBC1's show Saturday Kitchen on the 14th July 2007, where he confessed to detesting dairy products, while his favourite food is giant prawns on a bed of rice.

Selected filmography

Films

★ ''Jackboots on Whitehall'' (2008)

★ ''Ecstasy'' (2007)

★ ''Penelope'' (2006)

★ '' (2006) as Preston (voice)

★ ''Wah-Wah'' (2005) - writer, director

★ ''Colour Me Kubrick'' (2005) as Jasper

★ ''Corpse Bride'' (2005) as Lord Barkis Bittern (voice)

★ ''Bustin' Bonaparte'' (2004) as Bonaparte Blenkins

★ ''Tooth'' (2004) as Jarvis Jarvis

★ ''Bright Young Things'' (2003) as Father Rothschild

★ ''Monsieur N.'' (2003) as Hudson Lowe

★ ''Gosford Park'' (2001) as George

★ ''The Little Vampire'' (2000) as Frederick Sackville-Bagg

★ ''The Scarlet Pimpernel''(1999) as the Scarlet Pimpernel

★ ''Spiceworld'' (1997) as Clifford

★ ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (1997) (aka ''A Merry War'') as Gordon Comstock

★ ''The Serpent's Kiss'' (1997) as James Fitzmaurice

★ ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' (1996) as Sir Andrew Aguecheek

★ ''The Portrait of a Lady'' (1996) as Lord Warburton

★ ''Jack and Sarah'' (1995) as Jack

★ ''Prêt-à-Porter (1994) as Cort Romney

★ ''Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life'' (1993) as Franz Kafka

★ ''The Age of Innocence (1993) as Larry Lefferts

★ ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992) as Dr. Jack Seward

★ ''The Player'' (1992)

★ ''L.A. Story'' (1991) as Roland Mackey

★ ''Hudson Hawk'' (1991) as Darwin Mayflower

★ ''Henry & June'' (1990) as Hugo Guiler

★ ''Mountains of the Moon'' (1990) as Larry Oliphant

★ ''How to Get Ahead in Advertising'' (1989) as Denis Dimbleby Bagley

★ ''Warlock'' (1989) as Giles Redferne

★ ''Withnail and I'' (1987) as Withnail

Television

★ ''Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)'' (2007) as Lee Knight

★ ''Above and Beyond'' (mini series) (2004)

★ ''Home Farm Twins'' (2005) Paul Baker

★ ''90 Days in Hollywood'' (2004) narrator

★ ''Frasier'' in episode ''Goodnight, Seattle'' (2004) as Stephen Moon

★ ''Posh Nosh'' (2004) as Simon Marchmont

★ ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (2002) as Jack Stapleton

★ ''Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death'' (1999) as The Conceited Doctor

★ ''Let Them Eat Cake'' in episode ''The Portrait'' (1999) as Monsieur Vigée-Lebrun

★ ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1998) as Sir Percy Blakeney

★ ''Captain Star'' (1997) as Captain Jim Star

★ ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1995) as Edina's dream Justin

★ ''Codename Kyril'' (1988) as Sculby

Voice acting

★ '' (2006) as Preston (voice)

★ ''Corpse Bride'' (2005) - a Tim Burton stop-motion feature

★ ''The Legends of Treasure Island'' (1993) - an animated TV series

★ ''The Miracle Maker'' - stop-motion story of Jesus Christ

★ ''Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka'' (online)

Bibliography

★ ''The Wah-Wah Diaries: The Making of a Film'': ISBN 0-330-44196-5 (hardcover) - Sept 2006

★ ''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''

Footnotes

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/6197222.stm

External links

★

★ The REG Temple - The official website of Richard E. Grant.

★ Richard E Grant reading A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan-Doyle

★ ''Memories of Mischief'' - ''The Guardian'', August 6, 2005

★
★ Interview and profile around the release of his film ''Wah-Wah''.

★ Richard E Grant investigates the AIDS scam ''Newsnight'', December 1, 2006