Andrew Sachs

Sachs was born on 7 April 1930 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina (née Schrott-Fiecht), a librarian, and Hans Emil Sachs, an insurance broker.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/oct/29/andrew-sachs-profile |title=Andrew Sachs: profile |last=Williams |first=Rachel |date=29 October 2008 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=30 October 2008 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101103047/http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/29/andrew-sachs-profile |archive-date=1 November 2008 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/29/Andrew-Sachs.html |title=Andrew Sachs Biography |work=filmreference.com |publisher=NetIndustries |access-date=30 October 2008}}Andrew Sachs I Know Nothing! The Autobiography, Robson, London, 2014, p. 2. His father was Jewish and his mother was Lutheran, with Austrian ancestry.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/01/andrew-sachs-dies-after-alzheimers-aged-86 |title=Andrew Sachs, Manuel from Fawlty Towers, dies aged 86 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=1 December 2016 |access-date=2 December 2016}} The family moved to Britain in 1938 to escape the Nazis.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/getting-job/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-andrew-sachs-actor-and-writer-525357.html |title=Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Andrew Sachs, actor and writer |last=Sale |first=Jonathan |date=2 February 2006 |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=30 October 2008 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205164425/http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/getting-job/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-andrew-sachs-actor-and-writer-525357.html |archive-date=5 December 2008 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ajr.org.uk/journal/issue.Sep02/article.474 |title=Manuel dexterity: Profile of Andrew Sachs |last=Grunberger |first=Richard |date=September 2002 |work=AJR Journal |publisher=Association of Jewish Refugees |access-date=30 October 2008}} They settled in north London, and he lived in Kilburn for the rest of his life.{{cite news |url=http://www.thecnj.com/camden/2008/103008/news103008_08.html?headline=Make_a_meal_of_it%21_Fawlty_Towers_actor_in_BBC_Radio_2_row_opens_brand_new_hospital_restaurant |title=Make a meal of it! Fawlty Towers actor in BBC Radio 2 row opens brand new hospital restaurant |last=Osley |first=Richard |date=30 October 2008 |work=Camden New Journal |access-date=14 December 2008}}

In the late 1950s, while 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.{{cite book |last1=Street |first1=Seán |title=Historical Dictionary of British Radio |date=21 April 2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1442249233}}

Sachs's first film appearance was as a schoolboy in Hue and Cry, Ealing comedies' first film in 1947. He began in acting with repertory theatre and made his West End debut as Grobchick in the 1958 production of the Whitehall farce Simple Spymen.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/dec/02/andrew-sachs-obituary |title=Andrew Sachs obituary |date=2 December 2016 |access-date=2 December 2016 |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Dennis Barker}} He made his screen debut in 1959 in the film The Night We Dropped a Clanger.{{cite news |url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/obituaries-people-news/andrew-sachs-dead-fawlty-towers-1201931702/ |title=Andrew Sachs, 'Fawlty Towers' Actor, Dies at 86 |author=Sarah Ahern |date=2 December 2016 |access-date=2 December 2016 |newspaper=Variety}} He then appeared in numerous television series throughout the 1960s, including some appearances in ITC productions such as The Saint (1962) and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/01/andrew-sachs-much-loved-fawlty-towers-actor-manuel-role-dies/ |title=Andrew Sachs, the much loved Fawlty Towers actor, dies aged 86 |author=Hannah Furness |date=2 December 2016 |access-date=2 December 2016 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph}}

Sachs is best known for portraying Manuel, the Spanish waiter in the critically acclaimed sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979), a role for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award{{Cite web |title=Heritage: Andrew Sachs |url=http://www.bafta.org/heritage/in-memory-of/andrew-sachs |work=BAFTA |date=9 February 2017 |access-date=24 February 2018}} (the award went to co-star John Cleese).{{Cite web |title=BAFTA Awards Search: Fawlty Towers |url=http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=Fawlty%20Towers |work=BAFTA |access-date=24 February 2018}} He claimed in 1981 that Manuel was "really a very small part. In fact there was only one episode of Fawlty Towers – the one with the hamster – in which I had anything much to do."Sachs quoted in Fred Morony, "13 Fawlty Weeks changed Andrew Sachs's life", Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August 1981, p. 41.

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. Sachs was co-author of the tracks.{{Cite book |title=Fawlty Towers: fully booked |page=86 |author=Morris Bright, Robert Ross |year=2001 |isbn=9780563534396}} This was followed in 1979 by "O Cheryl" with "Ode to England" on the B side, under the name "Manuel and Los Por Favors". Sachs shares the writing credits for the B side with "B. Wade", who also wrote the A side.{{Cite web |url=http://www.45cat.com/record/7p150 |title=Manuel And Los Por Favors [Andrew Sachs] – O Cheryl / Ode To England – Pye – UK – 7P 150 |website=45cat |access-date=2 December 2016}} In 1981, at the urging of Elton John, "Manuel" released a cover version of Joe Dolce's worldwide hit "Shaddap You Face", with "Waiter, there's a Flea in my Soup" on the B side.{{Cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/whats-a-matter-you-hey/2005/07/23/1121539192279.html |title=What's a matter you, hey? |date=24 July 2005 |newspaper=The Age |author=Clay Lucas |access-date=2 December 2016}} When finally released it reached 138 in the UK Chart. Dolce prohibited Sachs from releasing his version until the original had been a hit.

He 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.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

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.{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-to-hell-with-basil-1619527.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arts-to-hell-with-basil-1619527.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=ARTS: TO HELL WITH BASIL |date=23 October 2011 |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=22 October 2021}}{{cbignore}}

During the shooting of the Fawlty Towers episode "The Germans", Sachs was left with second degree acid burns due to a fire stunt. He was also hit with a faulty prop on the set of the show by Cleese and suffered a severe headache.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8762883/Andrew-Sachs-suffered-burns-on-set-of-Fawlty-Towers.html |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |title=Andrew Sachs suffered burns on set of Fawlty Towers |date=14 September 2011 |access-date=25 October 2019}}

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 ...from Hell series.{{cite web |url=http://www.tmcentertainment.co.uk/speaker-index.html?speakerid=520&parentcat=5 |title=Andrew Sachs |website=Speak Out |access-date=2 December 2016}} He also narrated several audio books, including C. S. Lewis's Narnia series and Alexander McCall Smith's first online book, Corduroy Mansions,{{cite web |url=http://www.audible.com.au/search/ref=a_search_c8_1_srchPg?searchNarrator=Andrew+Sachs&searchRank=main_titlerank |title=Audiobooks narrated By Andrew Sachs |access-date=2 December 2016}} as well as two audiobooks of the popular children's TV series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends "Thomas and the Tiger" and "Thomas and the Dinosaur".{{cite book |title=Thomas and the Tiger (Thomas the Tank Engine) |id={{ASIN|1860211976|country=uk}} }} He provided the voice of Puzzle the Donkey in the Focus on the Family production of The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis. In 2000, Sachs narrated the spoof documentary series That Peter Kay Thing.{{cite book |last1=Marcus |first1=Daniel |last2=Selmin |first2=Kara |title=Contemporary Documentary |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317534167 |page=33}} He also narrated the documentary series Eyewitness, based on the children's books of the same name.

Sachs performed all the voices in the English-language version of Jan Švankmajer's 1994 film Faust.{{cite book |title=The Devil on Screen: Feature Films Worldwide, 1913 through 2000 |page=124 |chapter=Faust |author=Charles P. Mitchell |year=2002 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786446995}} He also did voices for children's animation, including William's Wish Wellingtons,{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03jw5q3 |title=William's Wish Wellingtons |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=BBC}} Starhill Ponies,{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/675816b8046045a893452579ff7f38bc |title=Starhill Ponies |date=7 April 1999 |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=BBC}} The Gingerbread Man,{{cite book |title=Bowker's Directory of Videocassettes for Children |year=1999 |isbn=0835242013 |author=R. R. Bowker |publisher=R. R. Bowker LLC}} Little Grey Rabbit,{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b84081fa2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202172616/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b84081fa2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 December 2016 |title=Little Grey Rabbit |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=BFI}} The Forgotten Toys,{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80fb05fb |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202233113/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80fb05fb |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 December 2016 |title=The Forgotten Toys |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=BFI}} Asterix and the Big Fight. and the horse in the English-language version of 1970's cult TV show Monkey.

Roles for radio include G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, 1984–1986,{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f0qwl |title=Father Brown stories |website=BBC Radio |access-date=2 December 2016}} Dr. John Watson in four series of original Sherlock Holmes stories for BBC Radio 4,{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rrljy |title=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |access-date=2 December 2016}} Jeeves in The Code of the Woosters,{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36714323 |title=Obituary: Andrew Sachs, Fawlty Towers' Manuel |work=BBC News |date=2 December 2016 |access-date=2 December 2016}} Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo on BBC Radio 7's "Young Classics" series,{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tmcz7 |title=The Count of Monte Cristo |website=BBC Radio |access-date=2 December 2016}} Snowy in The Adventures of Tintin, and Tooley in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r527b |title=Neverwhere, London Below |website=BBC Radio |access-date=2 December 2016}}

Although no other role gained him the same attention as Manuel, Sachs continued to star in a range of productions, both comedic and dramatic. In a reversal of his Fawlty Towers role, he was the hotel manager Don Carlos Bernardo in the 1977 Are You Being Served? movie,{{cite book |title=Best of the Britcoms: From Fawlty Towers to The Office |page=20 |year=2011 |isbn=9781589795266 |author=Garry Berman |publisher=Taylor Trade Publications }} In addition he also played the recurring character of Barrister Jeremy Nisbett Q.C. in the Granada Television daytime series, ''Crown Court.

In 1980 Sachs starred in the title role of a four-part BBC adaptation of H. G. Wells's The History of Mr Polly.{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b727503e4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202171747/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b727503e4 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 December 2016 |title=The History of Mr. Polly Part One |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=BFI}} The following year, he portrayed a French Revolutionary in Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part I.

1988 saw Sachs and his wife Melody returning to Berlin to make a three-part BBC documentary following his early life in the city, comparing it with the divided Berlin of 1988. An excerpt exists in the BBC Archive.

In 1990 he appeared as a contestant on Cluedo, facing off against fellow actor Keith Barron.

In 1992 he voiced the titular gingerbread man in the animated series The Gingerbread Man. He also voiced the characters Mr Salt, Herr Von Cuckoo and Sleek The Mouse.

In 1994 Sachs appeared in the popular Thames Television comedy drama series Minder. He played Sidney Myers in the episode "All Things Brighton Beautiful".{{cite web |url=https://www.minder.org/episodeguide/S10E03_AllThingsBrightonBeautiful.htm |title=#10.3 All Things Brighton Beautiful }}

In 1996 Sachs portrayed Albert Einstein in an episode of the American PBS series NOVA entitled "Einstein Revealed".{{cite web |title=Einstein Revealed |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2311eins.html |website=NOVA |publisher=PBS |access-date=2 December 2016}} In 1997, Sachs played opposite Shane Richie in Chris Barfoot's Dead Clean:{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80d65041 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202172656/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80d65041 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 December 2016 |title=Dead Clean |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=BFI}} in a tale of mistaken identity, Sachs plays airport window cleaner Kostas Malmatakis who is hired to assassinate a businessman by his greedy partner (Mark Chapman); the British short won a Gold Remi at the Houston Worldfest in 2001.{{cite web |title=Anglo American Pictures |url=https://actors.mandy.com/uk/company/20904/anglo-american-pictures/ |work=Mandy Actors |access-date=2 December 2016}}

Sachs has had several roles in Doctor Who productions. He played "Skagra" in the webcast/audio version of the Doctor Who story Shada, completed by Big Finish Productions and in 2008 he played the elderly version of former companion Adric, in another Doctor Who story for the same company, The Boy That Time Forgot. In the 1980s, Sachs had submitted his name to be considered for the part of the Seventh Doctor in the television series.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/webcasts/shada/interviews/sachs/page7.shtml |title=Nearly Who |publisher=BBC |access-date=26 August 2014}}

In 2005 Sachs served as the performer for the audiobook version of Urchin of the Riding Stars, the first book of The Mistmantle Chronicles.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} In 2007, the BBC broadcast an adaptation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency with Sachs portraying Reg (Professor Urban Chronotis, the Regius Professor of Chronology).{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/07_july/13/dirk.shtml |title=Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency opens for business on Radio 4|website=Bbc.co.uk |access-date=2 December 2016}} He would later appear in another Adams adaptation as the Book in the live tour of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy during its run at Bromley's Churchill Theatre.{{cite news |url=http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/leisure/latest/9772442.Hitchhiker_s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_radio_show_comes_to_The_Churchill_Theatre__Bromley/ |title=Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio show comes to The Churchill Theatre, Bromley |newspaper=Bromley News Shopper |publisher=Newsquest |author=Nikki Jarvis |date=20 June 2012 |access-date=29 June 2012}}

On 17 November 2008 it was announced that Sachs had been approached to appear in ITV soap Coronation Street.{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a135789/sachs-to-join-coronation-street.html |title=Sachs to join 'Coronation Street'? |website=Digital Spy |date=17 November 2008 |access-date=21 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202003408/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a135789/sachs-to-join-coronation-street.html |archive-date=2 December 2008 |url-status=live}} He 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". In May 2009 he made his debut on the street as Norris' brother, Ramsay.{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a138392/sachs-im-taking-street-challenge.html |title=DigitalSPy.com |publisher=DigitalSPy.com |date=14 December 2008 |access-date=24 July 2012}} He appeared in 27 episodes and left in August 2009.{{cite web |title=Andrew Sachs |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ee25467/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308053350/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ee25467 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 March 2016 |work=BFI |access-date=2 December 2016}}

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".{{cite web |url=http://www.lyndaronan.com/andrew-sachs/ |title=LyndaRonan Personal Management |publisher=Lyndaronan.com |access-date=24 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126105751/http://www.lyndaronan.com/andrew-sachs/ |archive-date=26 January 2013 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.thornburyartsfestival.com/TFpage3.htm |title=Thornbury Arts Festival 2001 |publisher=Thornburyartsfestival.com |date=15 December 2000 |access-date=24 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017013640/http://www.thornburyartsfestival.com/TFpage3.htm |archive-date=17 October 2010 }} 2012 saw his last major role, as Bobby Swanson in the movie Quartet.{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/50c30bc1a5894 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513005233/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/50c30bc1a5894 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 May 2016 |title=Quartet |access-date=2 December 2016 |publisher=BFI}}

Between 1962 and 1985 Sachs wrote a number of plays for theatre and radio, in parallel with his acting career. His first radio play, in 1962, was One Man and His Dog.{{Cite web |url=http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/asachs.html |title=Andrew Sachs radio plays – DIVERSITY WEBSITE |access-date=23 November 2010 |archive-date=15 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115035533/http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/asachs.html |url-status=dead }} Till Death Do Us Join, concerning Ernest Wire's desire to murder his wife, and Ruby Drab's hope to 'dispose of her spouse', was produced by the BBC in 1964 and broadcast in Australia as So You Want to Get Rid of Your Wife the following year.'Husband Defined in BBC Comedy' Melbourne Age, 8 April 1965 p. 25. In 1978, BBC Radio 4 broadcast The Revenge, a ground-breaking 30-minute play totally without dialogue (an experiment in binaural stereo recording), written and performed by Sachs. It was dismissed by playwright Jonathan Raban as a "wordless sequence of noises" and "a well-puffed curiosity". The play has however subsequently been repeated a number of times on BBC Radio 4 Extra.{{cite web |url=http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/revenge.html |title=The Revenge, a radio play without words, written and performed by Andrew Sachs in 1978 |author=Beck, Alan |access-date=21 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225232309/http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/revenge.html |archive-date=25 December 2008 |url-status=live}}

Made in Heaven, which had starred Sachs's future Fawlty Towers co-star Prunella Scales when produced for radio in 1971, was brought to the stage in 1975. As performed at the Chichester Festival it starred Patrick Macnee.Otto Dekom, 'Celibacy helped Macnee gain TV popularity', Wilmington Morning News, 1 October 1975, p. 28. Though it was a popular success, Sachs said in 1981, "the critics really slaughtered it ... Actually, I had to agree with the critics. There was a lot wrong with the play." He professed his intention to rewrite the work and stage it again.

Sachs claimed he would "concentrate on writing if anything happened to impair my acting. But I'm very much a part-time writer."

{{Main|The Russell Brand Show prank calls}}

On 25 October 2008, the BBC apologised to Sachs and his agent after they had been informed that Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross had made several obscene phone calls to him during an episode of The Russell Brand Show recorded on 16 October and broadcast two days later, on which Sachs had agreed to appear.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7692911.stm |title=BBC apologises over Brand prank |date=27 October 2008 |publisher=BBC |work=BBC News |access-date=27 October 2008 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029055454/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7692911.stm |archive-date=29 October 2008 |url-status=live}} Both presenters had left explicit messages on Sachs's telephone answering machine stating that Brand had sex with his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/oct/30/russell-brand-ross-baillie-sachs |title='Living this way makes me happy' |last=Taylor |first=Matthew |date=30 October 2008 |work=The Guardian |access-date=1 November 2008 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081102044538/http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/30/russell-brand-ross-baillie-sachs |archive-date=2 November 2008 |url-status=live}}

Gordon Brown, the then Prime Minister, criticised Ross and Brand's actions, saying that it was "clearly inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour", and the television watchdog, Ofcom, launched an inquiry into the matter.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7696714.stm |title=BBC pressured to sack presenters |date=29 October 2008 |work=BBC News |access-date=29 October 2008 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101133008/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7696714.stm |archive-date=1 November 2008 |url-status=live}} Afterwards, Brand and Controller of Radio 2 Lesley Douglas resigned, with Ross soon suspended.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7697988.stm |title=Sachs accepts presenters' apologies |work=BBC News |date=29 October 2008 |access-date=29 October 2008 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101133058/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7697988.stm |archive-date=1 November 2008 |url-status=live}} In February 2014, Sachs was interviewed by the BBC about his autobiography. He spoke of how the scandal still affected him.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26254034 |title=BBC News – Andrew Sachs: Brand and Ross radio stunt 'disgusting' |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=19 February 2014 |access-date=16 March 2014}}

In 1960, Sachs married the actress, writer and fashion designer Melody Lang, who took his surname.{{Cite web |url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/melody-sachs/ |title=Melody Sachs |website=Fantasticfiction.com}} He adopted her two sons from a previous marriage, one of who was John Sachs and the couple had one daughter together in 1961.{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Mele |title=Actor Played Beloved Waiter on "Fawlty Towers" |newspaper=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |date=3 December 2016 |page=B6}} Lang appeared in one episode of Fawlty Towers, "Basil the Rat", as Mrs Taylor.

Sachs was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012, which eventually left him unable to speak and forced him to use a wheelchair. He died on 23 November 2016 at the Denville Hall nursing home in Northwood, London, aged 86.{{cite news |title=Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs dies aged 86 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38178353 |date=1 December 2016 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |access-date=1 December 2016 }}{{cite news |last1=Mele |first1=Christopher |title=Andrew Sachs, Hapless Waiter on the BBC Sitcom 'Fawlty Towers,' Dies at 86 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/arts/television/andrew-sachs-hapless-waiter-on-the-bbc-sitcom-fawlty-towers-dies-at-86.html |access-date=2 December 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1 December 2016}} His funeral took place on 1 December, the same day his death was publicly announced.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/01/andrew-sachs-much-loved-fawlty-towers-actor-manuel-role-dies/ |title=Andrew Sachs, the much loved Fawlty Towers actor, dies age 86 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=1 December 2016}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/01/andrew-sachs-dies-after-alzheimers-aged-86 |title=Andrew Sachs, Manuel from Fawlty Towers, dies aged 86 |date=2 December 2016 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=2 December 2016}}

On 2 December 2016, BBC One broadcast the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems" in his memory. John Cleese paid tribute to Sachs, describing him as a "sweet, sweet man".{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/01/andrew-sachs-dies-after-alzheimers-aged-86 |title=Andrew Sachs, Manuel from Fawlty Towers, dies aged 86 |last=Weaver |first=Matthew |date=2 December 2016 |newspaper=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077 |access-date=2 December 2016}}

Sachs' wife died in 2017.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dhhliteraryagency.com/melody-sachs.html |title=Melody Sachs |website=Dhhliteraryagency.com}}

In July 2021 the BBC Two television series Secrets of the Museum reported on the waiter's costume, worn by Manuel, which had been gifted to Victoria and Albert Museum by the actor's daughter.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p09lw5xc/secrets-of-the-museum-series-2-2-epic-iran |title=Secrets of the Museum – Series 2: 2. Epic Iran |website=Bbc.co.uk}}

• 2015, I Know Nothing! The Autobiography, The Robson Press, {{ISBN|978-1849-5490-04}} (shortlisted for The Sheridan Morley Prize, 2015){{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Andrew |date=2014 |title=I Know Nothing! The Autobiography |url=https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/i-know-nothing |publisher=Biteback Publishing |isbn=9781849546362 |access-date=2 December 2016 |archive-date=28 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928043907/https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/i-know-nothing |url-status=dead }}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|755133|Andrew Sachs}}
• [http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/asachs.html Radio Plays by Andrew Sachs]
• [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80026992 Imperial War Museum Interview]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36714323 Obituary: Andrew Sachs] From BBC News
• {{British Comedy Guide|people|andrew_sachs}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sachs, Andrew}}

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