For fun, Richard E. Grant and his partner of 38 years, Joan Washington, would trawl junk shops and flea markets.
“Complete collect-aholics, both of us,” says Grant, smiling. “The house is chock-full of what we jokingly used to call ‘dead people’s things’. I’m a huge collector of marionettes and puppets and Joan loved papier-mâché masks. But really, we collect all sorts. There’s stuff everywhere, not an inch of spare room in the house!”
Washington died in September 2021 and this interview is taking place just a few days after the first anniversary of her passing. Grant is speaking softly via Zoom from his London home, a Georgian rectory he shared with Washington for 25 years.
Richard E. Grant. Photo © Carsten Windhorst.
In the 12 months between Washington’s death and now, Grant mourned and wrote a memoir, A Pocketful of Happiness, a record of the four decades in which Grant became one of Britain’s best-known actors and Washington a voice and dialect coach to Hollywood stars.
He is now preparing to bring that memoir to the stage in a one-man show that will bring the 65-year-old...
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