Richard E Grant has said that his daughter was treated “appallingly” by “very well known household names” in the British film and TV industry while working as a runner.
On a film and TV set, a production runner is someone who works behind the scenes to assist the producer, often carrying out jobs such as transporting equipment or materials, and communicating messages.
Grant, the 67-year-old star of Withnail & I, was asked in a recent interview with Sky News what the most “underappreciated” role in the film and TV industry was.
“The runners, who are paid the least amount of money,” he responded. “They’re the youngest. They get there at five in the morning, they’re the last to leave, and if anything goes wrong, they get flung from a dizzy height.”
“I know because my daughter was a runner for two years. And was appallingly treated by some very well known household names, in England,” he continued.
Grant explained that the figures in question, whom he did not name, had “changed their tune” when they “found out who her father was”.
“[That] made it worse,” Grant added. “It made me damn those people even more.”
The actor was then asked if he had ever met any of the famous figures who had mistreated his daughter.
“I’ve met one person, yeah, and I’ll never speak to him again,” he replied.
Grant’s daughter, Olivia Grant, now works as casting director; her credits include the Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air, and the recent Lee Miller biopic Lee.
Grant was married to voice coach Joan Washington from 1986 until her death from lung cancer in September 2021.
The actor opened up about grief in a 2023 interview with The Independent. “I don’t talk out loud [to my late wife], but after 38 years together I know I can anticipate or predict what her response to whatever’s happening in my day would be,” he said.
“So I have a silent conversation with her, especially at the steering wheel at the end of a day, or at the end of a show... cross-reference what she would be thinking.”
In another recent interview, Grant revealed how Only Murders in the Building star Steve Martin helped him recover from a nervous breakdown in 1999 after becoming “angry and unhappy with his life and career”.
