Richard E Grant’s Film Prop-Filled London Garden Revealed
Step into Richard E. Grant’s garden in Richmond, London, and you’ll encounter a rather unusual sight. Rather than the typical English garden fare of daffodils and tulips, Grant’s space is populated with props and decorations from his film roles – spanning projects like Saltburn to the 2022 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
After completing a job, he explains, “I go to the production department and try and buy or bribe my way” to acquire pieces for his garden. Until recently, this space was a private haven for Grant to entertain his fellow actors. Now, he’s opened it up to the world as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s new podcast, Roots. A recent visit revealed a collection of the strange and wonderful items that reside there.
Saltburn’s proscenium arch
Tucked behind a hedge and next to a wooden bench is a recognizable element from Emerald Fennell’s 2023 hit, Saltburn. “At the conclude of the film,” Grant says, “there was a big outdoor party scene for Barry Keoghan’s character’s birthday, and I said, ‘Could I possibly buy that?’” Initially, the production department declined, stating that the arch would be scrapped due to storage costs. “So I said, ‘Could I have it in the garden?’” they gave it to him without charge.
A giant bust of Barbra Streisand
Beneath the Saltburn arch stands a prominent, faux marble sculpture of Barbra Streisand’s face. Grant commissioned this piece from a special effects company he’d previously worked with. Unlike many other items in the garden, this was a personal acquisition, driven by his admiration for the singer and actress. “She’s seen the pictures of it,” he says, recounting a meeting where he showed her photos. “I had a conversation with her and I said at the end of it, ‘I have something to confess … I’ve commissioned a two-foot tall sculpture of your head favouring your left profile for my garden.’ And she said, ‘You’re crazy.’” However, she conceded that it was a “extremely accurate representation”.
Marble columns from Persuasion
At the back of his garden, draped in climbing plants and framed by trees, are imposing faux marble pillars adorned with candelabras, featured in the 2022 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. “At the end of filming, I said, ‘Could I have them?’ and snaffled them.” They formed part of the grand Somerset estate depicted in the film.
Plinths from Gladiator II
Grant wasn’t involved in Gladiator II, but he managed to acquire some props from the production, now framing his front door. “I was working at Shepperton studios and I saw these plinths on a skip,” he says. “Sadly, I wasn’t in Gladiator, but I have the two Gladiator plinths outside my house. I don’t care.”
A party pergola
Grant enjoys hosting parties and has a custom-built pergola for guests to gather, drink, and converse. “It’s really good for dancing and feeding people in,” he says. “I basically bribed four carpenters to come from Gloucestershire and said I’d cook for them and, you know, place them up if they could [make it] in four days, for a Halloween party four years ago. And they did it!” A fire pit provides warmth during colder evenings.
He’s entertained a notable guest list: “Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara,” he says, adding that, with no immediate neighbours, the parties often continue until 5am.
Christmas decorations
It’s Christmas year-round in Grant’s garden – silver baubles hang from trees and twinkling fairy lights are strung throughout. He found the baubles “in a shop window display of a well-known perfumery brand”. He inquired about their fate after Christmas and was told they were being discarded, at which point he offered to buy them. “They said: ‘No, we’d be grateful if you could seize them off us.’ So I got all of them. I like Christmas, as you can see. So there’s Christmas lights on every day, all year, day and night.”
His late wife’s favourite cherry tree
Grant’s wife, Joan Washington, passed away from lung cancer in . She requested that her ashes be buried under a cherry tree in the garden. However, Grant admits he hasn’t yet fulfilled her wish. “Rationally, I understand that’s what she wanted. But emotionally, this box of ashes is the last thing that I physically have of her. So I haven’t buried them since I thought, ‘Well, if I leave this house, then I can’t take the ashes with me.’”
New life – and maybe a trampoline
Grant’s daughter, Olivia, and her husband moved into his home during the COVID-19 pandemic and have remained there since. “Our daughter’s having a baby in ,” he says, “and because she and her husband chose to come and live here a couple of years ago, I now live this communal life. So I’m a concierge, basically. Do the garden, cook, shop, which I love. The first year of being a widower, because it’s a big house, I was very conscious of only hearing my own footsteps in the house.” The “next phase” of the garden, he says, may include a slide and a trampoline.