![Fawlty Towers. Manuel (Andrew Sachs). Copyright: BBC Fawlty Towers. Manuel (Andrew Sachs). Copyright: BBC](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/300x200/f/fawlty_towers_manuel_bw.jpg)
Andrew Sachs
- British
- Actor
![Fawlty Towers. Manuel (Andrew Sachs). Copyright: BBC Fawlty Towers. Manuel (Andrew Sachs). Copyright: BBC](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/people/900x450/f/fawlty_towers_manuel.jpg)
Andrew Sachs was a German-born British actor best known for playing Spanish waiter Manuel in the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.
Year | Production | Role |
---|---|---|
2016 | Breaking The Bank | Jenkins |
2013 | Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy
|
Self |
2013 | Run For Your Wife | Waiter |
2011 | Bar Mitzvah Boy | Grandad |
2010 | Beautiful Dreamers | Ensemble Actor |
2010 | Terry Pratchett's Going Postal | Tolliver Groat |
2009 | The Story Of Slapstick | Self |
2009 | Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
View episodes |
Self |
2009 | Beyond A Joke
View episodes
|
Self |
2008 | We Are Most Amused | Manuel |
2008 | 28 Acts In 28 Minutes - Series 2 (as Billy Bennett)
|
Guest |
2007 | Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Holistic Detective Agency
View episodes
|
Professor 'Reg' Chronotis |
2007 | Make 'Em Laugh, Make 'Em Laugh
|
Self |
2006 | The Code Of The Woosters | Jeeves |
2006 | Ricky Gervais Meets...
|
Narrator |
2006 | The Ultimate Sitcom | Self |
2005 | The Comedians' Comedian | Self |
2004 | Britain's Best Sitcom
|
Guest |
2003 | Bremner, Bird And Fortune: Between Iraq And A Hard Place | Ensemble Actor |
2002 | Meet The Magoons - Comedy Lab | Hitman |
2001 | The Right Time - Series 1
|
Various |
2000 | Love 40-New Balls Please - Series 3 | Actor |
2000 | Man Of Soup - Series 2 | Klepke |
2000 | That Peter Kay Thing - Series 1
View episodes
|
Narrator |
1999 | Man Of Soup - Series 1 | Klepke |
1999 | Laughter In The House: The Story Of British Sitcom | Self |
1999 | H-H-H-Happy Birthday Hancock | Host / Presenter |
1998 | Love 40-New Balls Please - Series 2 | Actor |
1998 | Norman Ormal: A Very Political Turtle | Party Political Broadcast Voice Over (Voice) |
1993 | Week Ending - Series 72
|
Ensemble Actor |
1993 | Every Silver Lining
View episodes
|
Nat Silver |
1992 | Week Ending - Series 69
|
Ensemble Actor |
1989 | Week Ending - Series 62
|
Ensemble Actor |
1987 | Delve Special - Series 4 | Ensemble Actor |
1987 | The Mausoleum Club - Tales From The Mausoleum Club
|
Arturo |
1985 | Delve Special - Series 2 | Ensemble Actor |
1985 | Week Ending - Series 51
|
Ensemble Actor |
1985 | There Comes A Time... | Tony James |
1984 | Big Deal - Series 1
|
M.C. |
1984 | Delve Special - Series 1 | Ensemble Actor |
1983 | It'll All Be Over In Half An Hour | Ensemble Actor |
1983 | Week Ending - Series 42
|
Ensemble Actor |
1982 | It's Your Move | Road-sweeper |
1982 | Dead Ernest
View episodes
|
Ernest Springer |
1979 | Not The Nine O'Clock News - Series 1
|
Ensemble Actor |
1979 | The Dawson Watch - Series 1
|
Ensemble Actor |
1979 | Fawlty Towers - Series 2
View episodes
|
Manuel |
1978 | Rising Damp - Series 4
|
Snell |
1978 | Revenge Of The Pink Panther | Hospital Inmate |
1977 | Are You Being Served? | Don Carlos Bernardo |
1977 | What's Up Nurse | Waiter |
1975 | Fawlty Towers - Series 1
View episodes
|
Manuel |
1974 | Romance With A Double Bass | Musician Zhuchkov |
1968 | Nearest And Dearest - Series 1
|
Doctor |
1968 | Hugh And I - Hugh And I Spy
|
Actor |
1959 | The Night We Dropped A Clanger | A. C. 2. Briggs |
Non-comedy TV and film credits may be found here:
Andrew Sachs on IMDb
- Born
- Monday 7th April 1930
- Died
- Wednesday 23rd November 2016 (aged 86)
- Stage name
- Billy Bennett
- Nationality
- British
Andreas Siegfried Sachs (Andrew Sachs) was born in Berlin, Germany, but abandoned his homeland for Britain with his Catholic, half-Austrian mother and Jewish father in 1938, to escape the Nazis. Having settled in north London, Sachs lived in Kilburn for the rest of his life.
Sachs married Melody Lang in 1960, an actor who had appeared in one episode of Fawlty Towers, "Basil the Rat", playing the role of Mrs. Taylor. After tying the knot, Sachs adopted her two sons from a previous marriage, John Sachs and William Sachs, and together they had one daughter, Kate Sachs.
In the late 1950s Sachs was still studying shipping management tat college when he worked on his first rail productions, including Private Dreams And Public Nightmares by Frederick Bradnum, an early experimental programme created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
He would later make his West End debut in the 1958 production of the Whitehall farce Simple Spymen, and made his screen debut in 1959 in the film The Night We Dropped A Clanger, a classic comedy that follows an RAF officer who plans to fool the Nazis as to whereabouts by using a double. This would lead to appearances in crime/detective television shows for ITC, such as The Saint and Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased).
Sachs is best known by far for playing Manuel, the Spanish waiter in the iconic sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975-1979). He was nominated for a BAFTA award, eventually losing out to his co-star John Cleese. Famously, during the shooting of the well-known episode "The Germans", Sachs came away with second-degree burns due to a fire stunt.
In character as Manuel, Sachs recorded four musical singles, including "Manuel's Good Food Guide" in 1977. In 1980 he featured on This Is Your Life, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews while in the character of Manuel. In 1981, "Manuel" released a cover version of [p[Joe Dolce]'s UK no. 1 song "Shaddap You Face", "Waiter, there's a Flea in my Soup" on the B side.
Alongside his work on Fawlty Towers, Sachs is also known for a wide array of successful voice work. He has narrated several television and radio documentaries, including all five series of BBC's BAFTA award-winning business television series Troubleshooter, presented by Sir John Harvey-Jones MBE. He has also narrated the audiobooks for C. S. Lewis' Narhia series and Alexander McCall Smith's first only book, Corduroy Mansions. In 2000, he also narrated Peter Kay's spoof documentaries series That Peter Kay Thing.
Cleverly reversing his role in Fawlty Towers, Sachs also played the hotel manager in the 1977 movie Are You Being Served?, a spin-off from the long-running and much-loved sitcom.
Sachs has undertaken several roles in productions of Dr Who, including "Skagra" in the webcast/audio version of the Doctor Who story Shada. Sachs appeared on 27 episode of the [c[ITV[/c] soap Coronation Street in 2009.
In 2008 the BBC apologised to Sachs after comedians Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross had made several obscene phone-calls to him on an episode of The Russell Brand Show. These messages, left on his answerphone, had joked about Brand having sex with his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. In the aftermath of the scandal, Brand and Controller of BBC Radio 2 Lesley Douglas resigned, with Ross suspended. In a 2014 BBC interview, Sachs spoke of how the events still affected him.
Sachs was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012, which consigned him to a wheelchair. He died on 23 November 2016 at the Denville Hall nursing home in Northwood, London. On 2 December 2016, BBC One broadcast the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems" in his memory.
- BAFTA Television Awards 1980
- Best Light Entertainment Performance (Nominee)
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