Andrew Sachs facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Andrew Sachs
Sachs in London, 2004
Born	Andreas Siegfried Sachs (1930-04-07)7 April 1930 Berlin, Germany
Died	23 November 2016(2016-11-23) (aged 86) Northwood, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1959–2016
Spouse(s)	Melody Lang ​ (m. 1960)​
Children	3, including John

Andrew Sachs (born Andreas Siegfried Sachs on 7 April 1930 – died 23 November 2016) was a British actor and writer. He was born in Germany. He became very famous on British television. His most well-known role was playing the funny Spanish waiter, Manuel, in the TV show Fawlty Towers.

Andrew Sachs had a long career in acting. He also did a lot of voice-over work for TV, movies, and radio. He continued acting successfully into his eighties. He appeared in many films like Quartet. He also played Ramsay Clegg in the TV soap opera Coronation Street.

Early Life and Family

Andrew Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany. His mother was a librarian and his father was an insurance broker. His family moved to Britain in 1938. They moved to get away from the Nazis. They settled in north London. He lived in Kilburn for the rest of his life.

In 1960, Sachs married actress and writer Melody Lang. He adopted her two sons, John Sachs and William Sachs. Andrew and Melody also had a daughter named Kate Sachs in 1961. Melody Lang even appeared in one episode of Fawlty Towers. She played Mrs. Taylor in the episode "Basil the Rat".

Acting Career

Starting Out

In the late 1950s, Andrew Sachs was studying shipping management. At the same time, he worked on radio shows. One of these was an early experimental program for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Sachs started acting in local theaters. He made his first appearance in London's West End in 1958. This was in a play called Simple Spymen. His first movie role was in 1959 in The Night We Dropped a Clanger. Throughout the 1960s, he appeared in many TV series. These included shows like The Saint (1962) and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).

Playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers

Andrew Sachs is most famous for playing Manuel. Manuel was the Spanish waiter in the popular TV comedy Fawlty Towers. The show aired in 1975 and 1979. Sachs was nominated for a BAFTA award for this role. He once said that Manuel was a "very small part". He felt he only had a lot to do in one episode, "the one with the hamster".

Sachs recorded three songs as Manuel. The first was "Manuel's Good Food Guide" in 1977. He helped write these songs. In 1981, he released a cover of the song "Shaddap You Face". This song became very popular.

In 1980, Andrew Sachs was featured on the TV show This Is Your Life. He was surprised by the host while appearing as Manuel in a store.

Sachs had lived as a "foreigner" in Britain himself. He said that Manuel's character was not based on unfair stereotypes. He believed Manuel could represent any worker from another country. During filming of the "The Germans" episode, Sachs was injured in an accident involving fire. He also had another accident on set with a prop.

Voice Acting and Narrating

Andrew Sachs was often the narrator for TV and radio shows. He narrated all five series of the BBC's business show Troubleshooter. He also narrated ITV's ...from Hell series. He read many audiobooks too. These included C. S. Lewis's Narnia series. He also narrated two audiobooks for Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. He was the voice of Puzzle the Donkey in The Last Battle. In 2000, Sachs narrated the comedy series That Peter Kay Thing. He also narrated Eyewitness, a documentary series based on children's books.

Sachs did all the voices for the English version of the 1994 film Faust. He also voiced characters in children's cartoons. These included William's Wish Wellingtons, Starhill Ponies, The Gingerbread Man, Little Grey Rabbit, The Forgotten Toys, and Asterix and the Big Fight. He was also the voice of the horse in the English version of the 1970s TV show Monkey.

For radio, he played Father Brown and Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes stories. He also played Jeeves in The Code of the Woosters. He was Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo. He voiced Snowy in The Adventures of Tintin.

Later Acting Roles

Even though no other role was as big as Manuel, Sachs kept acting in many different shows. He played a hotel manager in the 1977 Are You Being Served? movie. This was the opposite of his waiter role in Fawlty Towers. In 1980, he starred in a BBC show based on The History of Mr Polly. The next year, he was a French Revolutionary in Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part I.

In 1990, he was a contestant on the game show Cluedo. In 1992, he voiced the main character in The Gingerbread Man cartoon. He also voiced other characters in that show.

In 1994, Sachs appeared in the TV show Minder. He played Sidney Myers in an episode called "All Things Brighton Beautiful".

In 1996, Sachs played Albert Einstein in an episode of the American show NOVA. In 1997, he starred in the short film Dead Clean. Sachs played an airport window cleaner who is mistaken for an assassin.

Sachs also had several roles in Doctor Who productions. He played "Skagra" in an audio version of a Doctor Who story. In 2008, he played an older version of a character named Adric in another Doctor Who story. In the 1980s, Sachs had wanted to play the Seventh Doctor in the TV series.

In 2005, Sachs read the audiobook for Urchin of the Riding Stars. In 2007, he appeared in a BBC show called Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. He later appeared in a stage show of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

On 17 November 2008, it was announced that Sachs would appear in the TV soap opera Coronation Street. He confirmed this in December, saying his wife was a big fan. In May 2009, he made his first appearance as Ramsay, the brother of a character named Norris. He was in 27 episodes and left in August 2009.

Sachs toured with a pianist named Victor Sangiorgio. They performed a show called "Life after Fawlty". His last major role was in 2012. He played Bobby Swanson in the movie Quartet.

Writing Work

Between 1962 and 1985, Andrew Sachs wrote several plays. These were for both theater and radio. His first radio play was in 1962. In 1978, BBC Radio 4 broadcast his play The Revenge. This was a special 30-minute play with no talking. It used only sounds.

His play Made in Heaven was first a radio play in 1971. It was later performed on stage in 1975. Sachs said that even though it was popular, critics did not like it. He wanted to rewrite it and put it on stage again.

Sachs said he would "concentrate on writing" if he could not act anymore. But he mostly saw himself as an actor.

Illness and Death

Andrew Sachs was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012. This illness eventually made it hard for him to speak. It also meant he needed a wheelchair. He passed away on 23 November 2016. He died at a nursing home in Northwood, London. His funeral was on 1 December, the same day his death was announced to the public. His wife, Melody Sachs, passed away the next year.

On 2 December 2016, BBC One showed the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems" to remember him. John Cleese, who starred with Sachs, said he was a "sweet, sweet man".

Legacy

In July 2021, the BBC Two TV show Secrets of the Museum featured Manuel's white waiter outfit. This outfit was worn by Andrew Sachs in Fawlty Towers. His daughter Kate donated it to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is now part of the museum's permanent costume exhibition.

Selected Filmography

Books

• 2015, I Know Nothing! The Autobiography, The Robson Press, ISBN: 978-1849-5490-04 (shortlisted for The Sheridan Morley Prize, 2015)