Richard E Grant

The Withnail and I actor announced the news that his beloved wife died in heartbreaking post last year- here we look at the long-standing couple's 38-year ...

- and I couldn't think of a better way of making some kind of commitment," he told The Independent. "When I was away I spoke to her on the phone a lot and wrote every day, and I thought, well, you know, they've been doing it like this for . Richard also became stepfather to Joan's son Tom, whom she shared with her ex-husband. He said: "You get around it; you don't get over it. "She was teaching an accent session with a bunch of actors, and I thought she had the most wonderful voice and huge, sort of monkey eyes. "He was hyper-energetic, very enthusiastic, incredibly open. Your world goes upside down." It was December 1982." Joan – Love of my Life & Giver of Life to our daughter Olivia. Our hearts are broken with the loss of your Life last night. Richard and Joan got on "instantly" as she helped the actor perfect a Belfast accent for one of his roles. Richard met Joan while she was working as a voice coach in the eighties, and fell in love with her even though she was married to another man at the time.

Oscar-nominated actor Richard E Grant has paid a heartfelt tribute to his late wife Joan, saying that she urged him and their daughter to find "a pocketful ...

That really has become the most brilliant mantra by which to live by." She said, 'I know you're going to be sad but I challenge you to find a pocket full happiness in each day'. Our whole lives have been together."