For a younger generation, Leslie Phillips was the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films - for those slightly longer in the tooth, he was the star of memorable Carry On and Doctor films, and a much-loved comic actor.
The actor's agent Jonathan Lloyd confirmed the star died peacefully in his sleep on Monday at the age of 98. One of the most well-known faces and voices of British screen and radio, Phillips starred in more than 200 films, TV and radio series over his eight-decade career.
His suggestive catchphrases such as "ding dong", "I say", and "well, hello" became well-known in a string of roles where Phillips played his trademark character of well-spoken, upper-class, smooth-talking comedy Casanova. Away from cinema, television and radio, he was one of a legion of jobbing actors who earned a living in repertory, treading the boards of Britain's provincial theatres.
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He performed many times at Newcastle's Theatre Royal over the years. Our lovely main photograph from the ChronicleLive archive, captured in November 1971, was taken while Phillips was appearing in The Man Most Likely To at the Grey Street venue. We see him with shoppers outside the Co-op department store on Newgate Street where, as part of a promotion, he was giving away five pound notes to anyone who knew his name.
The Evening Chronicle managed to catch up with the London-born actor for an interview at the time in which he talked on a range of subjects, including his first acting role at the age of 10 in Anna Neagle's production of Peter Pan at the Palladium, and his experiences fighting in World War II as a second lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry. After the war, Phillips went into repertory, before (at the time of our 1971 story) having been cast in 90 films, starred at 20 West End theatres, and appeared in 500 plays.
For 17 years he starred alongside Ronnie Barker and Jon Pertwee on the BBC radio show The Navy Lark , and he was also an accomplished Shakespearian actor. He was best known for his roles in the Carry On and Doctor comedy films in the 1950s and '60s, with his "ding dong" phrase a reference to the name of his lecherous character Jack Bell in 1959's Carry on Nurse . His death - two years after Barbara Windsor's - leaves Jim Dale, 86, as the last surviving regular from the Carry On films.
After the Carry Ons , Phillips went on to star in Doctor in the House, Tomb Raider and Midsommer Murders. His final role came when he appeared as the much-loved voice of the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter. Here in Newcastle at the Theatre Royal, he performed many times including in productions of Roger's Last Stand in 1975, To Dorothy, A Son in 1976, and Tennessee Williams' Camino Real in 1997.
RIP Leslie Phillips (1924-2022) and thanks for the laughs...
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