A Pocketful of Happiness: A Memoir

Grant’s myriad of film performances, including Withnail and I and his Oscar-nominated role in Can You Ever Forgive Me, have made him a popular and prolific actor. Unfortunately, stardom does not cushion anyone from life’s cruelties, as Grant’s heartbreaking memoir proves. In 1982, Grant, newly arrived in London and determined to be an actor, signed up for an accent course at the Actors Centre with Joan Washington, a renowned dialect coach who had just been asked to coach cast members in Barbra Streisand’s Yentl. A mutual attraction ensued, and Grant and Washington married in 1986. After 35 years of marriage, a daughter together, and stellar careers, Washington was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 lung cancer. As treatments proved ineffective and Washington’s health deteriorated, the family had to grapple with the inevitable. Washington instructed her family to find the “pocketful of happiness” in every day. Grant does so with enormous dignity, affection, and unquenchable humor, supported by loyal friends.