Date of Birth : Apr 30th 1947
Grantham was born in Camberwell, London and enlisted in the British Army in 1965, at the age of 18. On 3 December 1966 he attempted to rob a German taxi driver, Felix Reese. A struggle between Grantham and the driver followed, and Reese died from a gunshot wound to the head. In his statement to the police following his arrest, he claimed that he did not know the gun was loaded and it had gone off during a struggle with the taxi driver. He was subsequently convicted of murder, a surprise verdict after being advised by his lawyer that a manslaughter verdict would probably be returned.
Grantham was sentenced to life imprisonment at his trial in 1967. Although he had committed the killing in Osnabrück, Germany, he served the entirety of his imprisonment in various British prisons. This was because soldiers and officers convicted of any criminal offence that warrants a sentence of over three months are automatically transferred to HM Prison Service, since they are also automatically dishonourably discharged. Grantham was released in 1977, having served 10 years. While he was in Leyhill Prison, he acted in several plays for inmates and members of the public, and edited the prison newspaper. He was encouraged to get more involved in acting professionally by disgraced politician T. Dan Smith, who had also been an inmate at Leyhill. He also met actress Louise Jameson during her visit to Leyhill in the mid 1970s; she had also encouraged him to take up acting.
On release from prison Leslie decided to pursue an acting career and trained at The Webber Douglas drama school (as did Anita Dobson, but not at the same time). He became good friends with the actress Louise Jameson, best known for her role as Leela in Doctor Who and made his first television appearance as Kiston in a 1984 episode of Doctor Who – Resurrection of the Daleks. He then appeared as a Signals Sergeant in episode 12 of the mini TV series The Jewel in the Crown. He also wrote a play entitled A Reason To Live, which won the Gloucester Drama Festival award for best original play. In 1985, he made a brief appearance in the film Morons from Outer Space, but by the time this film was released, Grantham had found fame in quite a different environment.
In 1984 he auditioned with the BBC for a part in its new soap opera EastEnders, which was due to go on air in February 1985. Grantham had auditioned for the role of market trader Pete Beale, but when the series went on air he got the part of Dennis Watts. The character, landlord of the Queen Victoria public house, quickly became a national favourite and gained the nickname Dirty Den mostly because of the way he treated his wife Angie, played by Anita Dobson, and at the age of 39 he fathered a child with 16-year-old Michelle Fowler.
On Christmas Day 1986, Grantham’s character served his on-screen wife with the divorce papers, with the famous line – “Happy Christmas Ange” and the episode was watched by a record 30 million viewers – over half the British population. In 1988 the character Den Watts sold his pub to Frank Butcher and gradually drifted out of key storylines until finally departing in February 1989. Den had got involved with The Firm and his only option was to flee the square. Viewers watched a mysterious gunman shoot at Den with a gun hidden in a bunch of daffodils, before hearing a splash. A shot depicting Den’s death was cut from the final scene, as the show’s producers hoped that Grantham might one day be persuaded to return to the role. The following year, a body believed to be Den’s was found in the canal, although again, not shown on screen.
From 1989 to 1990 he played Danny Kane in the crime television series The Paradise Club alongside Don Henderson. He went to appear in many more television series such as Cluedo as Colonel Mustard, The Detectives (1993) and 99-1 (1993-4). In 1994 he narrated Volume One of Frank Harris’s erotic classic My Life and Loves. In 1997 he produced and starred in the sci-fi mini-series The Uninvited.
He then became best known as the co-host of the game show Fort Boyard alongside Melinda Messenger which he presented from 1998 to 2001. He also reunited with his EastEnders co-star Anita Dobson in a one-off television film titled The Stretch which aired on ITV in 2000 and in a 2004 British gangster film titled Charlie.
Grantham has been actively involved in fundraising for Down Syndrome charities since his son Danny was born with the condition in 1994.
CAREER
Charlie ( 2004 )
The Wedding Tackle ( 2000 )