Andrew Sachs, the actor best known for playing hapless Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers, has died at the age of 86.
His wife Melody told the Daily Mail that her husband passed away on November 23 and was buried on Thursday (December 1).
Sachs had been suffering from dementia for four years, his wife said, and spent his final months in a wheelchair and unable to speak.
During a near 60-year career, Sachs worked prolifically in radio, TV and film, regularly landing work as a narrator as well as an actor. In addition to his BAFTA-nominated role in the classic ’70s sitcom Fawlty Towers, he appeared in TV shows including Coronation Street, Casualty and Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal.
More recently, he had a supporting role opposite Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly and Michael Gambon in the 2012 film Quartet.
Sachs was thrust back into the spotlight in 2008 when Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross made a series of inappropriate phone calls to him during a BBC Radio 2 show. The calls related to Brand’s brief romantic relationship with Sachs’ granddaughter and the BBC later apologised for any distress caused to the veteran actor.
Sachs, who lived in north London, is survived by his wife Melody and their three children.