Actor Leslie Phillips, well known for appearing in the Carry On and Doctor films, and in many roles as a typically British cad, has died at the age of 98 after a long illness. He was perhaps best known to the younger audience as the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films.
Leslie Phillips’ agent Jonathan Lloyd confirmed that the actor had died peacefully in his sleep on Monday. His wife Zara said in The Sun: “I’ve lost a wonderful husband and the public has lost a truly great showman. He was quite simply a national treasure. People loved him. He was mobbed everywhere he went.”
Leslie Phillips came to fame on radio, where for 17 years he appeared alongside Jon Pertwee on The Navy Lark. In all he appeared in over 200 films, TV and radio series in a career which lasted eight decades. He often carried into any role he took some of his own personal catch-phrases, such as “Ding dong”, “I say” and “Well, hello”.
In his later career he took on some more serious roles, including a Bafta-nominated appearance opposite Peter O’Toole in 2006’s Venus.
Elocution
Born in 1924 in Tottenham, Phillips went to the Italia Conti Academy and attended elocution lessons to lose his cockney accent. He made his stage debut in 1937 and his first film appearance in the 1938 musical comedy Lassie from Lancashire.
Called up to the British Army in 1942, he rose to the rank of lance-bombardier in the Royal Artillery, where his acquired upper-class accent helped him to e selected for officer training. He served in anti-aircraft battalions but was invalided out of the Army before D-Day.
His acting career thrived in the 1950s and he played in several Carry On and Doctor films, usually playing upper-class cads and lechers. Between 1959 and 1977 he played Sub-Lieutenant Phillips in radio comedy The Navy Lark.
He married actress Angela Scoular in 1982, and moved away from these types of roles, appearing in Empire of the Sun (1987), Scandal (1989) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), as well as providing the voice for the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films, and playing in many TV sitcoms and dramas.
He was appointed OBE in the 1998 Birthday Honours and was promoted to CBE in the 2008 New Year Honours.
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