ANDREW SACHS

(7 April 1930 - 23 November 2016)

The Berlin-born actor Andrew Sachs will forever be remembered as Manuel, the hapless waiter from Barcelona – “I know nothing!” – in the BBC TV sitcom Fawlty Towers. After studying at Rada for two terms he went into repertory, before making his West End debut in 1958 in the Whitehall farce Simple Spymen, with Brian Rix. His first credited film performance was in The Night We Dropped a Clanger (1959) also with Brian Rix, with whom he worked on various TV shows and in other films. He was in Hitler: The Last Ten Days, and a couple of Pete Walker horror films, Frightmare and House of Mortal Sin. He appeared in Revenge of the Pink Panther, Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part I, Consuming Passions, and played Durdles in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Some of his later film work included roles in Nowhere in Africa (2001, which was nominated for a best foreign language Oscar), Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet (2012), Breaking the Bank (2014) with Kelsey Grammer and, finally, the uncredited role of the Mantel Clock in Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).

MICHAEL DARVELL