One is a world-famous Hollywood actor; the other a man with a learning disability. They met by chance and formed a warm, supportive friendship.
The film star even turned up unannounced at his friend’s 40th birthday party in a village hall and arranged for him to fly to New York to appear as an extra in one of his movies. And now the two of them are set to act together on a London stage.
It could be the storyline from a Hugh Grant movie: but it’s the actor’s real life. On Tuesday, Grant will appear onstage at the Sadler’s Wells studio theatre alongside his friend Nigel Hollins and other members of the Baked Bean Theatre Company for actors with learning disabilities. The play tells a story loosely based on Nigel’s own, about a young man who isn’t sure whether he has the confidence to get into acting, but who eventually plucks up the courage to take a part.
Grant plays the friendly enabler who tells the boy that you have to take a few risks in life and reassures him that no actor should ever be afraid of making a fool of himself.
The friendship between Grant and Hollins came about after the actor contacted the Hollins family when he was making a TV documentary about press intrusion in 2012. Nigel’s sister is Abigail Witchalls, who was the victim of a terrible knife attack that left her paralysed in 2005. Her family suffered from unwanted press attention in the years following. The mother of Abigail and Nigel — she also has two other children — is Baroness Sheila Hollins, emeritus professor of psychiatry of disability at St George’s Hospital in London. She and Grant struck up a friendship, Grant met her family, and discovered a natural affinity with Nigel, who has been a member of the Baked Bean company for 12 years.
Grant says he’s always felt relaxed around people with learning difficulties. “My mother’s best friend had a daughter with a learning disability and she was my exact contemporary, so we were always friends and still are great friends — I often go to visit her,” he says. “I find being around people like her, and Nigel, really very lovely — they’re all so incredibly nice, and kind, and friendly, and it just reaffirms your faith in humanity. I always leave feeling uplifted. Nigel is a great guy: he’s got a brilliant sense of humour and he’s just great fun to be around.
“When he was 40 I went along to his birthday party and had a terrific time, and last year he came out to New York where I got him a part as an extra in a movie we were shooting, The Rewrite, which I think he enjoyed.”
Grant is also a leading supporter of a home for adults with learning disabilities, Fynvola House in Kent. It is named after the Four Weddings and Funeral star’s mother and he is a regular visitor.
