Leslie Phillips dies aged 98
- Leslie Phillips, actor and comedy star, has died at the age of 98
- Born in working class north London, he was best known for his suave, upper middle-class characters and plummy voice
- He appeared in a string of hit box office films, ratings-winning TV series and popular radio comedies across a long career
Screen icon Leslie Phillips CBE has died. He was 98.
Born on 20th April 1924 to a working class family in North London, he was best known for his plummy, upper-middle class voice and a string of hit comedy roles - on stage, screen and radio - in that vein. He died peacefully in his sleep yesterday after a long illness.
His third wife, Zara, said today: "I've lost a wonderful husband and the public has lost a truly great showman. He was quite simply a national treasure. People loved him. He was mobbed everywhere he went. When we married he cheekily introduced me to the press as royalty, insisting I was the new Zara Phillips and that I was related to The Queen."
Often associated with the saucy humour of the Carry On films, Phillips in fact only appeared in five of the 31 films - Carry On Nurse, Carry On Teacher, Carry On, Constable, compilation feature That's Carry On and Carry On Columbus.
His wide-ranging career saw him rise to international prominence in later life, voicing the Sorting Hat in the blockbuster Harry Potter film series.
Elsewhere in film, he enjoyed a string of box office successes throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, varyingly as co-star, ensemble star, and lead. Over more than 200 features, the wide range of comedy titles include the Doctor... film series, Raising The Wind, The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins, Inn For Trouble, Very Important Person, The Fast Lady, The Smallest Show On Earth and Not Now, Comrade.
He also starred in one of BBC Radio's first national mega-hit sitcoms, The Navy Lark, alongside the likes of Ronnie Barker and Jon Pertwee, and had a guest role in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
On television, his array of work was similarly varied. He starred in sitcoms including The Culture Vultures, Galton & Simpson's Casanova '73, My Wife Jacqueline, The House Of Windsor and Our Man At St. Mark's; was a regular star of sketch show Revolver; lead or guest-starred in comedy dramas such as Life After Life, Love On A Branch Line, Take A Girl Like You; and also enjoyed guest roles in The Comic Strip Presents..., The Catherine Tate Show and Father, Dear Father.
Phillips was born in Tottenham in 1924. Seven years later his family moved to Chingford in Essex, where he preferred to go to the cinema and theatre rather than play with schoolmates. His father, who worked in a factory making gas cookers, died in 1935 aged only 44, prompting his mother - who had spotted Leslie's aspirations to perform - to send him to Woking-based performing arts conservatoire Italia Conti Academy. There he trained in drama and attended elocution lessons to refine his diction.
He would later reflect: "All my friends and family were Londoners, real Cockneys. They found it hard to recognise the new me, though my voice has without doubt played an enormous part in my success."
Phillips made his stage debut in 1937 as a wolf in a London Palladium production of Peter Pan, and appeared in the West End alongside stars such as Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison.
His first break into films came in 1938 when his mother spotted an advertisement for a screen test for the Gracie Fields musical comedy Lassie From Lancashire, and he was proud of being the only actor still alive who had performed at Pinewood Studios when it first opened.
Called up to national service in 1942, Phillips found his now-upper-class-sounding accent resulted in him being selected for officer training and selected as a lieutenant.
After the war, he returned to the West End to star as the character Tony in the hit West End comedy For Better For Worse, and across the 1950s he established himself as an actor known for playing comic English stereotypes, including with his first lead role, in 1952 BBCtv sitcom My Wife Jacqueline.
1957 Gene Kelly musical Les Girls gave Leslie a Hollywood break, but he decided against a move to America as he still considered himself primarily a stage actor, and was by this point married to his first wife, with whom he had four children.
His marriages were rocky and marred by affairs and tragedy, including the death of his first wife in a fire and that of his second by self-poisoning, resulting in a similarly difficult relationship with his children and other family members.
Phillips is survived by his third wife, Zara Carr, some 35 years his junior. They were married at Christmas 2013.
In this excerpt from More4 documentary Hello: A Portrait Of Leslie Phillips, the star talks about some of the famous lines he has delivered: "I only opened my mouth and it became a catchphrase".
And here are 10 minutes of highlights from his screen appearances:
Leslie Phillips Collection - Comic Icons
Collection of features starring the debonair British gentleman with a penchant for seaside-comedic gags and an eye for the ladies, Leslie Phillips.
In Please Turn Over (1959) a town is driven to insurrection when a local girl publishes a sexy novel with characters quite plainly lifted from among local personages, including her mum and dad!
Watch Your Stern (1960) is a navy lark featuring many of the Carry On crew, in which a ship's steward convinces his admiral he is the brain behind a homing torpedo, but he finds himself in deep water.
In No Kidding (1960) a young couple inherits a large estate and decides to turn it into a kids' camp - to predictably riotous results.
In Crooks Anonymous (1962) a former lag trying to go straight joins a rehabilitation scheme using much the same methods as AA. Through the process, he takes work as a department store Santa, where the endless parade of goods and money, not to mention the pretty young shop hands, have him like a moth to a flame in no time flat.
First released: Monday 5th February 2007
DVD- Distributor: Optimum Home Entertainment
- Region: 2
- Discs: 4
- Catalogue: OPTD0781
Buy and sell old and new items
Search for this product on eBay
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
Leslie Phillips Movie Collection
A trio of films starring Leslie Phillips from the archives of the Rank Organisation:
Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!
Doctor In Trouble
Very Important Person
First released: Monday 18th October 2004
DVD- Distributor: Granada Media
- Region: 2
- Discs: 3
- Subtitles: English
- Catalogue: 3711506843
Buy and sell old and new items
Search for this product on eBay
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
Leslie Phillips
Three classic British comedy films starring Leslie Phillips OBE:
In The Doghouse
Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!
The Man Who Liked Funerals
First released: Monday 8th August 2016
DVD- Distributor: Strawberry Media
- Region: 2
- Discs: 3
Buy and sell old and new items
Search for this product on eBay
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
Leslie Phillips - Hello: The Autobiography
Leslie Phillips's story begins with a poverty-stricken childhood in North London, made all the worse when his father died when Leslie was just ten years old. Soon after, he began his acting career, and since then he has worked with Steven Spielberg, Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, among many others.
Best known for his comic roles in the Carry On and Doctor series, he took the decision in later life to take on more serious roles in films such as Empire Of The Sun, Out Of Africa and Scandal, as well as performing in plays such as The Cherry Orchard.
In this, his long-awaited autobiography, he recalls some of the great characters he has worked with, and the book is packed with hilarious anecdotes. He also highlights how different he is in real life from his onscreen persona as a bounder. It is a fascinating story, brilliantly told.
First released: Tuesday 3rd October 2006
- Published: Thursday 15th November 2012
- Publisher: Orion
- Download: 3.55mb
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
- Publisher: Orion
- Pages: 464
- Catalogue: 9780752868899
Buy and sell old and new items
Search for this product on eBay
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
- Published: Wednesday 22nd August 2007
- Publisher: Orion
- Pages: 432
- Catalogue: 9780752881782
Buy and sell old and new items
Search for this product on eBay
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
- Released: Wednesday 18th October 2006
- Distributor: Orion
- Discs: 4
- Catalogue: 9781407222820
Buy and sell old and new items
Search for this product on eBay
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.