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Star Wars actor Paul Grant is photographed snorting lines of cocaine – in shocking pictures that will horrify film fans.

The 4ft 4in dwarf appeared as an Ewok in Return of the Jedi and says he also stood in for actor Kenny Baker as R2D2 in the final scenes.

Openly hoovering up lines of the Class A drug through a cardboard tube in a squalid first floor flat Paul, 47, whose credits also include the first two Harry Potter films, admitted: “I need help.”

The actor, who once shared the screen with Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, told how his life had hit rock bottom following the collapse of his marriage and a conviction for common assault that left him in prison.

Now dossing down in a friend’s grubby bedsit and sitting bare-chested on a dirty sofa, Paul confessed: “My family has disowned me and work has dried up.

“I’ve been on cocaine and it has just got worse. I’m drinking and smoking what I can get.

“I’m all right but I do need help. I’ve got kids and a granddaughter.

“I’m going to give it a crack. I do want to get back to where I was.”

He added: “I’ve not been to see anyone, but if someone did offer me help or brought me help I would take it.”

Paul said he had ended up sleeping on the streets after his marriage collapsed. “She had an affair, I had affairs, I was playing away and she got her own back. I don’t blame her,” he said.

“I just went Awol, trying to move on. I did a little work then it dried up.”

He said he hadn’t seen his former acting agent Warwick Davies in more than two years – since he appeared in a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Paul’s chaotic, seedy life now is in sharp contrast to when he rubbed shoulders with Hollywood stars and played characters including small loveable furry Ewoks which lived on the forest moon of Endor.

His past credits include 1988’s Willow with Val Kilmer, 1985 Tom Cruise movie Legend, Labyrinth starring David Bowie in 1986 and Deuce Bigalow 2.

Struggling to stay focused, Paul said: “I had a family, I was married, now I’m divorced. I’ve lost everything.

“I’ve not got anything, my things, pictures, clothes are all over the place.

“I don’t know what I want at the moment. I had money, I blew it all, I spent it on drugs and prostitutes.”

Paul admitted taking hookers back to the bedsit where he is staying and selling his car so he could buy alcohol and drugs.

He said: “That’s my problem. I’ve spent a lot of money on drugs and prostitutes, money from the films.”

Knocking back cheap out-of-date lager – costing £2 for four bottles – he said: “I was on the street, I couldn’t tell you for how long. I’ve been all over the place.

“I had good times, I’m not going to lie, I blew the lot. I’ve got friends, good friends who took me off the street.”

Recalling his movie career past filming at Elstree studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, he said: “In Harry Potter I was stood on a big stool in Gringotts the goblin bank, I was counting money.

“In Return of the Jedi I played an Ewok, they filmed it at Borehamwood.

“I was also R2D2 in the last scenes of Return of the Jedi. I enjoyed it, there were good times. Some actors even got to go out of the country – to America. But I haven’t done anything for two years.” Fortunately for Paul he has been taken in by young mum Chloe McCarthy who took pity on him and rescued him from living rough on the streets.

She is now trying to get him to turn his life around. “He needs to address his problems. He’s small so I’m worried about him,” said Chloe, 22.

“People’s bodies can’t take everything. He’s vulnerable.”

She revealed how she invited Paul into her flat a month ago. Chloe, who lives with her boyfriend and young children, said: “We saw him on the street. He was sleeping rough and because he was small we felt sorry for him.

“We brought him in because he didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

But Chloe was stunned when the shambling tramp claimed to be an actor who had starred in a raft of movies. “He said to me, ‘I’m a film star’. I said, ‘No, you’re not’. We didn’t believe him at all, but he said he’d been in Harry Potter, Star Wars, Willow and Labyrinth.

“We still didn’t believe him so I searched him on Google and then I found it all. It was only then that we believed him.

“I was a bit shocked. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve met a film star!’ I was a bit starstruck. He was showing off about it, he was very proud.”

Paul told Chloe he also appeared in pantomime as one of Snow White’s seven dwarves – and auditioned as an Oompa Loompa in Willy Wonka.

But a matter of days after he was offered a roof over his head, Paul began pestering people for drugs. Chloe said: “He said he’d done a bit of drugs here and there. He seems to just want, want, want.”

She told how she witnessed him smoke cannabis – and then confess his desire for harder substances.

Chloe said he would take any drugs he could get his hands on.

She added: “He does coke, prescription tablets – he takes anything; heroin if he can, he takes crack. He smokes everything.”

Worried Chloe said Paul’s polite, friendly nature vanishes when he is under the influence of drugs.

She said his mood darkens – and he has even challenged 6ft men to fights. Chloe added: “He can be all right when he’s on drugs but he can also be a bit of a p****.

(Image: Patrick Scully)

“He will go, ‘Let’s have a fight’ and start on anyone.” She showed the Sunday Mirror a British Gas leaflet which she said Paul cut up to use as a tube through which he could snort Class A drugs.

White powder fell out when our reporter unwrapped the flyer.

Chloe admitted: “If he was a normal homeless person I wouldn’t have done anything. But because he’s so small and looked so rough and upset and sad, I brought him in.

“I want him to find help. I’ve known him for long enough to know that he needs help. I’ve tried talking to him about it, but all he says is, ‘Gis a line’.

“He’s rubbing his nose constantly and keeps saying he’s hooked. He’s just gone off the rails. I think he wants to change his life but he doesn’t know how to.”

Chloe has shown Paul pictures of himself when he is drunk and high, hoping they will shock him into quitting the booze and drugs. But so far he has refused to do anything about his habit.

The mum of twin two-year-old girls revealed the fallen star has few clothes – two Fred Perry T-shirts, a pair of trainers and one pair of blue River Island jeans.

She also said he fritters away his days sitting in the dark, dingy flat in Peterborough, Cambs, getting high on booze and drugs.

His favourite drink is strong Polish lager but Chloe said because he has little money he also downs cheap out-of-date beer.

The tragic descent into drink and drugs marks a sad fall from grace for a man who succeeded in overcoming his difficulties, turning his short stature to his advantage in the acting industry.

In 2004 he also tried his hand at producing, working on an episode of Liquid Asset’s titled Beyonce’s Millions.

Paul used a promotional video for Willow Management – dwarf star Warwick Davies’ agency – to tell of his delight in appearing in the string of hits alongside Hollywood A-listers.

In the 26-second YouTube clip, viewed by hundreds of people, he says: “Hello, my name is Paul Grant. I’m from Peterborough and I’m an actor.

“I’ve done a few films such as Return of the Jedi, Legend, Willow and Labyrinth and Harry Potter.”

He adds: “It’s very good, I enjoy it.”