You probably know Daniel Laurie thanks to his role as Reggie Jackson in Call the Midwife since 2017. However, maybe you didn’t expect that he comes from an acting family. Leslie Graham, who played “Dirty Den” Watts in EastEnders, was this young actor’s father. Sadly, he died at the age of 71 after a long fight with lung cancer.
All of his sons said again and again that he was a great father, and we must agree. He raised his kid and tried to give him all the opportunities he could, which worked out very well. So even though he died back in 2018, we will tell you about him and how he changed Daniel’s life.
Who was Leslie?
Leslie married Jane Laurie in 1981 and had three sons; however, they divorced in 2013, and Daniel took his mom surname. After their two children, they didn’t expect a third, but Jane said, “I told Leslie y was expecting a third baby, and I was sure he had Down’s syndrome”. After this big news, Leslie answered firmly, “whatever we get, it’s our baby”.
Even though Leslie was very private about his personal and family life, he spoke about how he felt about Daniel. For example, during an interview with The Guardian he said, “We didn’t know he had Down’s syndrome before he was born, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. He’s fantastic”. Overall, he said that he was proud through all the interviews he did and spoke about him.
After Daniel was born, he became a fund-raiser for the Down’s syndrome Association. With this, he set an example of how “adults should realize how special these children are”. This, combined with Daniel work in Call the Midwife, is lifting a lot of taboos and stigma that is still attached.
