Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs dies aged 86

Known for playing Spanish waiter Manuel in the sitcom, the German-born actor passed away after a battle with dementia

Comic actor Andrew Sachs, best known for playing Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers, has died.

The German-born performer was said to have battled vascular dementia for four years before his death at 86, at a care home and was buried on Thursday, according to reports.

His wife of 57 years, Melody Sachs, told the Daily Mail: “It wasn’t all doom and gloom, he still worked for two years (after his diagnosis in 2012). We were happy, we were always laughing we never had a dull moment.

“He had dementia for four years and it wasn’t very pleasant. We didn’t really notice it at first until the memory started going.

“It didn’t get really bad until quite near the end. I nursed Andrew, I was there for every moment of it.”

She said the father-of-three, a native German speaker whose Jewish father and Christian mother fled the Nazis in 1938, refused to complain about his deteriorating health.

Mrs Sachs, also 86, told the Mail her husband lost his ability to speak and write during his final few weeks, and he was unable to feed himself or eat during his final days.

Sachs became a household name as the hapless Manuel in the 1970s sitcom.