September 9, 2010. Copyright 2010, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Actor Hugh Grant, whose persona of angst-ridden Englishman-in-love proved box office gold, turns 50
By Susan Shepherd

LONDON, September 9, Graphic News:  Whether it is the stiff-collared  frock-coated Edward Ferrars of Jane Austen's Sense and  Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee in the 1995 Oscar-winning adaptation, or the open-necked shirt and denims of bookseller William Thacker, mesmerised by Julia Roberts' glamour in Notting Hill (1999), Oxford University graduate Hugh John Mungo Grant has become synonymous -- on screen at least -- with the buttoned-up Brit, hiding his true feelings equally behind 18th century manners or modern-day mannerisms. The tiny frowns, clipped uppercrust delivery and floppy brown hair -- raked with well-manicured fingers when his characters are stressed -- have largely charmed audiences and critics since his breakthrough movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mike Newell's 1994 "sleeper", which went on to make more money than any other British film before it.
 
Off-screen, the thoroughly decent image was shattered just a year after this cinematic triumph, when Grant was arrested and charged with lewd conduct by Los Angeles Vice Squad officers. They had caught him taking part in a sex act with a prostitute, in his car, which was parked on Sunset Boulevard. The publicity was monumental; Grant had been in Hollywood to promote his forthcoming film, Nine Months (1995), and was scheduled to appear, within days of the scandal, on all the major TV talk shows of the day. He quickly won back considerable credit for going ahead with the interviews -- notably The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and CNN's Larry King Live -- where he admitted, with great frankness, his "dishonourable" behaviour. Grant was afterwards adjudged to have defused the crisis and saved his burgeoning career.  
 
The woman at his side throughout the decade was model Liz Hurley, the international face of cosmetic giant Estee Lauder at the time of her boyfriend's very public misdemeanour. The two had met in 1987 on the set of a Spanish production about the Romantic poet Lord Byron, played by Grant. Their relationship survived 13 years until May 2000, when they announced their "mutual and amicable" separation. Grant went on to have a three-year relationship with Jemima Khan and remains close to Hurley, being godfather to her now eight-year-old son, Damian.
 
With the new millennium came fresh success in the hugely popular Bridget Jones films. Based Based on the novels by Helen Fielding, Grant found a welcome change of screen role as the caddish office boss Daniel Cleaver, who alternately pursues and then cheats on Renee Zellweger's sad singleton. Between the original Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and its sequel, Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004) -- Grant later said the follow-up was a mistake with a poor script -- the actor, who counts Dukes and Earls among his largely Scottish ancestors, found himself playing the British Prime Minister in Love Actually (2003). Another hit from the pen of Richard Curtis, the movie reunited Grant with Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. His more recent outings, including last year's Did You Hear About the Morgans? with Sarah Jessica Parker, have been less well received and, as he approaches 50, Grant is candid about whether the career he has long said he fell into by accident, may have peaked, telling reporters earlier this year that he might quit the film business to write a novel.
/ENDS