Star Wars actor Richard E. Grant recalls his travel adventures including a ‘la-di-dah’ flight to New York on Concorde
This week actor Richard E. Grant checks in to our holiday Q and A
This week actor Richard E. Grant checks in to our holiday Q and A.
He reveals how he worked in a hotel in Swaziland, how he lived in a hotel for three months in New York and why Venice is his favourite city.
First experience of a high-end hotel?
When I was in the film Pret-A-Porter in 1994, the producers flew my wife and me by Concorde to New York and put us up in a vast suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
That was about as la-di-dah as you can imagine.
Have you ever lived in a hotel?
I stayed at the Wyndham in New York for three months in 1991 during the shooting of Age Of Innocence.
I loved the feeling of being free of all responsibility and having no need to ever go to a supermarket.
Ever worked in a hotel?
I was born in Swaziland and worked at the Royal Swazi Spa during my university holidays.
One of my jobs was to confront guests who had ‘accidentally’ packed bath towels and dressing gowns in their suitcases without paying.
Favourite city?
Richard’s favourite city is Venice, which he says is a ‘visual feast’ and ‘inherently romantic’
Venice. I first went with my parents when I was 12. My wife and I took our daughter Olivia when she was seven. It’s a visual feast. Every trip to Venice is inherently romantic.
Has travel been an inspiration for your perfume venture?
When I was staying in Mustique a few years ago, Anya Hindmarch was another of the guests. I was smelling a gardenia bush and she noticed and said: ‘Richard, we need to do something about this.’
- Richard is in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, in cinemas now.