Alby Grant

Infobox character
colour = #AA0000
colour text = white
name = Albert Grant
series = Big Love


caption =
first = "Pilot"
last =
cause =
creator = Mark V. Olsen
portrayer = Matt Ross
episode =
nickname = Alby
alias =
species =
gender = Male
age = 30's
born = 1970's
death =
specialty =
occupation =
title =
callsign =
spouse = Laura Grant
children =
family = Roman Grant (father)
Adaleen Hallstrom Grant (mother)
Nicolette Grant (sister)
relatives =
residence = Juniper Creek, Utah
religion = United Effort Brotherhood
nationality = American

Alby Grant, played by Matt Ross, is a fictional character from the HBO series Big Love.

Overview

The character of Alby Grant was first introduced in the show's pilot episode. He is a hard-line member of the fictional polygamist group United Effort Brotherhood and is one of the many sons of Roman Grant, the "Prophet" of the organization. His mother is Roman's sixth wife, Adaleen. Tall and slender, Alby has a pale, smooth-featured face, sleek brown hair, and cold brown eyes. Alby, who usually accompanies his aging father on rounds, sees himself as being groomed for the sect's number one position.

Both Roman and Alby dislike protagonist Bill Henrickson, who they view as morally wayward, anti-compound, and disloyal, among other things. Bill is a successful business entrepreneur, owning the popular home improvement warehouse Henrickson's Home Plus. After Bill refuses to give Roman a percentage of his income on his second store, Roman dispatches Alby to help him take care of the situation. Alby engages in many schemes to intimidate Bill, including scaring his kids.

After failing numerous times to persuade Bill to submit to his father's payment demands, Alby loses his father's favor, which results in him taking a sabbatical. During his sabbatical he has an encounter with a man he met at a market, leading the man to believe he was being hired for sex. The man then makes a sexual advance on him, which Alby reluctantly, and dramatically, rejects by shrieking loudly and banging his head against a hotel wall. In the second season, Alby's closeted homosexuality is alluded to again by him checking out the bodies of other men and comments made by his sister Nicki, Bill Henrickson's second wife.

During the final episode of the first season his father asks him to find new methods to punish both Bill and his ally brother Joey, who lives on the compound with his wife and baby. Bill and Joey's interest in a UEB Priesthood seat arouses caution in Roman, who believes Bill is setting up a plot against his interests. Alby begins his investigation by spooking Wanda, Joey's wife, materializing inside her home, looking for her husband and Bill. Wanda tells him that Joey is not home. An impatient Alby snoops around her house, then approaches her newborn child, insinuating that he will do whatever is necessary for her to cooperate with him. Wanda responds by making a fake phone call to her husband, urging him to come home. She then offers Alby lemonade, spiked with anti-freeze, sending him into a coma, nearly killing him.

The Second season shows a fully recovered Alby set for implacable vengeance on those who wronged him, particularly Bill. After his father's assassination attempt, Alby makes a power move, and to Bill's horror, successfully maneuvers himself to the sect's number one position. With his bullet-ridden father in the hospital, Alby now appears to be the series' primary villain.

ee also

*Bill Henrickson
*Mormon fundamentalism
*Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
*Warren Jeffs

References

* [http://www.hbo.com/biglove/cast/character/alby_grant.html Official HBO biography of Alby Grant]