Andrew Sachs, Fawlty Towers' Manuel, Dies Aged 86

Andrew Sachs, the much loved Fawlty Towers actor famed for his role as Manuel, has died at the age of 86, his wife has announced.

The actor had been battling dementia for the past four years and died in a care home last week, Melody Sachs said. He was buried on Thursday.

"My heart has been broken every day for a long time," she said, adding that the actor had remained positive to the end: "I never once heard him grumble."

"It wasn’t all doom and gloom, he still worked for two years.

"We were happy, we were always laughing, we never had a dull moment. He had dementia for four years and we didn’t really notice it at first until the memory started going.

"It didn’t get really bad until quite near the end. I nursed Andrew, I was there for every moment of it.

Mrs Sachs told the Daily Mail that she had suffered from stress while caring for her husband and had collapsed, but "got over it real quick".

Sachs, who was born in Germany, had a distinguished career as an actor on screen, radio and stage, but will be most fondly remembered for his role as Manuel in the classic BBC comedy Fawlty Towers.

Blackadder actor and comedian Sir Tony Robinson paid tribute to his "true friend". He wrote on Twitter: "So sad that Andrew Sachs has died. A true friend and a kindred spirit.

"I still have the wonderful baby pictures he took of my children. RIP."

Samuel West, whose mother Prunella Scales starred alongside Sachs in Fawlty Towers, added: "Creator of one of our most beloved EU migrants. Such warmth and wit; impossible to think of him without smiling."

Comedy writer Edgar Wright said Sachs "spun comic gold as Manuel in Fawlty Towers".

Source: Guardian