Leslie Grantham
| Leslie Grantham | |
|---|---|
Grantham in 2005
|
|
| Born |
Leslie Michael Grantham 30 April 1947 Camberwell, London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Known for | Playing Den Watts in EastEnders (1985–89, 2003–05) |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment (served 10: 1967–77) |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Laurie (m. 1981; div. 2013) |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | http://www.lesliegrantham.com |
Leslie Michael Grantham (born 30 April 1947) is an English actor best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
Grantham is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a West German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal in 2004.
Grantham was born in Camberwell, London, the son of Adelaide (née Flinders) and Walter William Grantham (1915–1998). He was a promising netball player in his youth, representing South London combined schools as Wing Attack. He enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers regiment of the British Army in 1965, at the age of 18.
On 3 December 1966, Grantham attempted to rob a taxi driver, Felix Reese, in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, West Germany. 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, Grantham claimed that he did not know the gun was loaded and it had gone off during the struggle, which would have resulted in a conviction for manslaughter if a jury believed this version of events. However, at his trial in 1967 he was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Although he had committed the murder in West 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 two years are automatically transferred to Her Majesty's 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 Labour Party politician T. Dan Smith, who had also been an inmate at Leyhill in the mid 1970s. He also met actress Louise Jameson during her visit to Leyhill in the mid-1970s; she had also encouraged him to take up acting and he became good friends with her.
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