Richard E Grant gets a reply from his favourite star - 47 years later
The actor wrote as a teenager offering Barbra Streisand a holiday but it was only on Tuesday that he got a reply.
Wednesday 30 January 2019 22:28, UK
Richard E Grant has written about his "message in a bottle miracle" after his letter to his favourite star 47 years ago finally got a reply.
The actor has been a keen fan of singer and actress Barbra Streisand for most of his life.
At the age of 14, he sent her a letter, offering her a respite from her fame and her "failed romance" with Ryan O'Neal.
Grant had written from his then home of Swaziland (now called eSwatini): "I would like to offer you a two-week holiday or longer at our house, which is beautiful with a pool and a magnificent view of the Ezulwini Valley... Here you can rest.
"No one will trouble you and I assure you you will not be mobbed in the street, as your films only show in our one cinema for three days, so not that many people will know who you are, so no chance of being mobbed."
He told her he and his family had been "very big fans" since seeing her 1968 film Funny Girl, following her career "avidly" since then.
Grant didn't get a reply at the time but 15 years later he, of course, became an actor too.
On Tuesday, Grant, now 61, posted a copy of the letter on Twitter alongside a selfie of him on the street outside Streisand's California home.
This time he got a reply from the Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning star.
Streisand, 76, wrote: "What a wonderful letter you wrote me when you were 14 - and look at you now!"
She also told him he was "terrific" in his latest movie.
Grant posted a photo of himself as his daughter read him Streisand's tweet over the phone, describing himself as "completely crinkle-faced and overcome with emotion".
Grant was nominated for his first Oscar last week, for best supporting actor in the biographical crime drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?