38 Facts About Andrew Sachs

Andreas Siegfried Sachs, known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor.

Andrew Sachs made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers.

Andrew Sachs was successful well into his eighties, with roles in numerous films such as Quartet, and as Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.

Andrew Sachs was born on 7 April 1930 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina, a librarian, and Hans Emil Andrew Sachs, an insurance broker.

Andrew Sachs's father was Jewish and his mother was Lutheran, with Austrian ancestry.

Andrew Sachs began in acting with repertory theatre and made his West End debut as Grobchick in the 1958 production of the Whitehall farce Simple Spymen.

Andrew Sachs made his screen debut in 1959 in the film The Night We Dropped a Clanger.

Andrew Sachs then appeared in numerous television series throughout the 1960s, including some appearances in ITC productions such as The Saint and Randall and Hopkirk.

Andrew Sachs is best known for portraying Manuel, the Spanish waiter in the critically acclaimed sitcom Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award.

Andrew Sachs recorded three singles in character as Manuel; the first was "Manuel's Good Food Guide" in 1977, in which he appeared, in character, on the cover.

Dolce prohibited Andrew Sachs from releasing his version until the original had been a hit.

Andrew Sachs was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1980, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews while making a personal appearance as Manuel at the HMV store on London's Oxford Street.

Andrew Sachs, who had himself experienced life as a 'foreigner' in Britain, denied allegations that the character was based on racist stereotypes, arguing that Manuel could have been any 'foreign' worker.

Andrew Sachs was hit with a faulty prop on the set of the show by Cleese and suffered a severe headache.

Andrew Sachs was frequently heard as a narrator of television and radio documentaries, including all five series of BBC's BAFTA Award-winning business television series Troubleshooter presented by Sir John Harvey-Jones and ITV's.

In 2000, Andrew Sachs narrated the spoof documentary series That Peter Kay Thing.

Andrew Sachs narrated the documentary series Eyewitness, based on the children's books of the same name.

Andrew Sachs performed all the voices in the English-language version of Jan Svankmajer's 1994 film Faust.

Andrew Sachs did voices for children's animation, including William's Wish Wellingtons, Starhill Ponies, The Gingerbread Man, Little Grey Rabbit, The Forgotten Toys, Asterix and the Big Fight.

In 1980 Sachs starred in the title role of a four-part BBC adaptation of H G Wells's The History of Mr Polly.

Andrew Sachs voiced the characters Mr Salt, Herr Von Cuckoo and Sleek The Mouse.

In 1994 Andrew Sachs appeared in the popular Thames Television comedy drama series Minder.

Andrew Sachs played Sidney Myers in the episode "All Things Brighton Beautiful".

In 1996 Andrew Sachs portrayed Albert Einstein in an episode of the American PBS series NOVA entitled "Einstein Revealed".

In 1997, Andrew Sachs played opposite Shane Richie in Chris Barfoot's Dead Clean: in a tale of mistaken identity, Andrew Sachs plays airport window cleaner Kostas Malmatakis who is hired to assassinate a businessman by his greedy partner ; the British short won a Gold Remi at the Houston Worldfest in 2001.

In 2005 Andrew Sachs served as the performer for the audiobook version of Urchin of the Riding Stars, the first book of The Mistmantle Chronicles.

On 17 November 2008 it was announced that Andrew Sachs had been approached to appear in ITV soap Coronation Street.

Andrew Sachs later confirmed on 14 December that he was taking up the offer, saying "My wife was such a fan that I've been watching it since 1962".

Andrew Sachs appeared in 27 episodes and left in August 2009.

Andrew Sachs toured with the Australian pianist Victor Sangiorgio in a two-man show called "Life after Fawlty", which included Richard Strauss's voice and piano setting of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Enoch Arden".

Between 1962 and 1985 Andrew Sachs wrote a number of plays for theatre and radio, in parallel with his acting career.

In February 2014, Andrew Sachs was interviewed by the BBC about his autobiography.

Andrew Sachs spoke of how the scandal still affected him.

In 1960, Andrew Sachs married the actress, writer and fashion designer Melody Lang, who took his surname.

Andrew Sachs adopted her two sons from a previous marriage, one of who was John Sachs and the couple had one daughter together in 1961.

Andrew Sachs was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012, which eventually left him unable to speak and forced him to use a wheelchair.

Andrew Sachs died on 23 November 2016 at the Denville Hall nursing home in Northwood, London, aged 86.

John Cleese paid tribute to Andrew Sachs, describing him as a "sweet, sweet man".