Andrew Sachs
| Andrew Sachs | |||
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Sachs in London, 2004
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| Born |
Andreas Siegfried Sachs 7 April 1930 Berlin, Germany |
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| Died | 23 November 2016 (aged 86) Northwood, London, England |
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| Cause of death | Vascular dementia | ||
| Occupation | Actor | ||
| Years active | 1959–2015 | ||
| Spouse(s) | Melody Lang (m. 1960; his death 2016) | ||
| Children | 3, including John Sachs | ||
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Andrew Sachs (born Andreas Siegfried Sachs, 7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016) was a British actor. Born in Berlin, Germany, he and his family emigrated to London in 1938 to escape persecution under the Nazis. He made his name on British television and rose to fame in the 1970s for his portrayals of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated. He went on to have a long career in acting and voice-over work for TV, film and radio.
In his later years, he continued to have success with roles in films such as Quartet, and as Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.
Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina (née Schrott-Fiecht), a librarian, and Hans Emil Sachs, an insurance broker. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic, and of half-Austrian descent. He left with his parents for Britain in 1938, when he was eight years old, to escape the Nazis. They settled in north London, and he lived in Kilburn for the rest of his life.
In 1960, Sachs married Melody Lang, who appeared in one episode of Fawlty Towers, "Basil the Rat", as Mrs. Taylor. He adopted her two sons from a previous marriage, John Sachs and William Sachs, and they had one daughter, Kate Sachs.
In the late 1950s, whilst still studying shipping management at college, Sachs worked on radio productions, including Private Dreams and Public Nightmares by Frederick Bradnum, an early experimental programme made by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
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. He made his screen debut in 1959 in the film The Night We Dropped a Clanger. He then appeared in numerous TV series throughout the 1960s, including some appearances in ITC productions such as The Saint (1962) and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).
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