Hugh Grant is charming on screen, and yesterday he was just as beguiling when he spoke at the star-studded memorial service for his friend and publicist, Robert Garlock.
Grant was joined by other Garlock clients Kate Winslet and Uma Thurman, who also reminisced with the packed crowd at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater. Broadway stars Raul Esparza and Ashley Brown (she plays Mary Poppins) sang, Robert’s colleagues Leslee Dart, Alan Eichhorn and movie critic Peter Travers also spoke. Penelope Cruz, dressed down to the point of not being noticed, and Ellen Barkin, were in the audience.
Travers quoted Robert saying that film critics were like soldiers who came in after the war was over “and shot all the survivors.” It was the best line of the day. All the speakers talked about Robert’s obsession with the “Mary Poppins” musical and his favorite song, “Practically Perfect.”
Robert died much too young at age 41 on September 2 from complication from lymphoma and pneumonia. His death was a blow to all his “civilian” friends but maybe more so for the celebrities whom he cared for as if they were his children. Their speeches, all lovely, reflected that. Winslet observed that sometimes “he was my only friend in the world.” Uma, who was very emotional, recalled their many travels together all over the world.
But it was Hugh Grant who hit the right note. He said that just to give Robert a challenge every couple of years he would get himself arrested for acts of “sex or violence.” He made reference to his various legal scrapes over the years. That got a huge laugh. Grant said that it amazed him after a wild night on the town, wherever they were, Robert could look worse than Grant. He recalled flying with Garlock on the Warner private plane, drunk, watching “Who’s Afraid of Baby Jane?” and “other dreadful movies.”
“Sometimes I felt like his employee,” Grant joked. “I was Hobson to his Arthur.”
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