Finvola Grant: How Did Hugh Grant’s Mother Die?

Finvola Grant is the mother of award-winning English actor Hugh John Mungo Grant simply known as Hugh Grant. Finvola’s famous son Hugh Grant has several acting credits under his belt. He established himself early in his career as a charming and vulnerable romantic leading man and has since transitioned into a more dramatic character actor.

Finvola Grant: Bio Summary

Who is Finvola Grant, Hugh Grant’s Mother?

Fynvola Susan MacLean was born on 11 October 1933, in Wickham, United Kingdom. She is the daughter of Margaret Isabel Randolph and James Cassilis MacLean. Her grandparents are Felton George Randolph and Emily Margaret Nepean. There isn’t much information about her formative years. She might have been raised in a working-class family. There is no information about her educational background and qualifications.

Finvola Grant was a schoolteacher. She taught Latin, French, and music for more than 30 years in the state schools of West London. She met Captain James Murray Grant, an officer who was in the Seaforth Highlanders for eight years in Malaya and Germany. James also ran a carpet firm and pursued hobbies such as golf and watercolor painting. How they met is unknown but after being together for a while, they got married.

However, the date and location of their wedding ceremony are unknown but the ceremony is believed to have been a beautiful one in front of their family and loved ones. Their wedding ceremony might have taken place long ago. They expanded their family as they produced children. Finvola and James gave birth to James “Jamie” Grant and Hugh John Mungo Grant.

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James “Jamie” Grant is a New York-based investment banker while Hugh Grant is an actor and philanthropist. Hugh is one of Britain’s most recognized faces. He is known for his roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and its 2004 sequel, About a Boy (2002), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Love Actually (2003), and Music and Lyrics (2007), among others.

Hugh Grant has been outspoken about his antipathy towards the profession of acting, his disdain towards the culture of celebrity, and his hostility towards the media. He came up as a prominent critic of the conduct of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation during the News International phone hacking scandal. He has won awards including a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Honorary César.

Hugh Grant has given credit to his mother Finvola Grant for his acting genes. On Inside the Actors Studio in 2002, he credited Finvola with “any acting genes that [he] might have”. Finvola lived a quiet life away from publicity.

How Did Hugh Grant’s Mother Die?

Hugh Grant’s mother, Finvola Grant was killed by pancreatic cancer. She lost to cancer after a long battle with it. She died in July 2001, at the age of 67 years. Her son Hugh described his mother as the most important woman in the world to him. He decided to take a break from his career after his mother’s demise. He spoke about launching a cancer research trust in her honor.

Hugh Grant became the patron of the Fynvola Foundation, named after his late mother Finvola. It supports the Lady Dane Farmhouse, a home in Faversham for adults with learning disabilities. Since Finvola died, her son Hugh Grant has worked as a fundraiser and ambassador for Marie Curie Cancer Care, promoting the charity’s annual Great Daffodil Appeal on several occasions.

Hugh Grant is also a patron of Pancreatic Cancer Action. Hugh donated £100,000 to help launch a new section on Healthtalkonline that gives people the facts about pancreatic cancer. Hugh Grant recalled: ‘They did more tests and … the cancer had in fact spread. I remember the day I was sitting with her in the hospital and the doctors came in and said, ‘It’s not good,’ and really she had about two or three weeks left at that point. That was pretty bleak.”

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“The nurses were just fantastic, whether the normal NHS nurses or the Marie Curie nurses whose entire life is spent sitting in the dark with someone who is dying. They almost earn nothing, but if I put them next to my hedge fund friends I know who is happier”, he added.

“She was one of these women who loved [TV] medical dramas. She was virtually born to have a terminal disease and she was very classy with it and quite funny. [On her funeral] she said ‘I don’t want anyone having any fun’ and insisted on very very sad music.

“So I had the organist, at the very end of the funeral, having played all this sad Bach, play cheerful tunes from Salad Days. That’s what made everyone cry.”