His death on Monday after a long illness brought the curtain down on eight decades in the entertainment industry. 9 Leslie Phillips dies at age 98 Credit: PA:Press Association As well as the Carry On films, Leslie Phillips attracted a new generation of fans as the voice of The Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films. Jonathan Lloyd’s agent confirmed he died “peacefully in his sleep” yesterday. Paying tribute, his wife Zara, 63, said: “I have lost a wonderful husband and the public have lost a truly great showman. “He was quite simply a national treasure. People loved him. Wherever he went he was angered. “When we got married he introduced me to the press as a royal, insisting I was the new Zara Phillips and related to the Queen.” Leslie starred in more than 200 films, television and radio series during his illustrious career. For 17 years he starred alongside Ronnie Barker and Jon Pertwee in the hit BBC radio show ‘The Navy Lark’. An accomplished Shakespearean actor, Leslie has also trod the boards in stage productions around the world. But he was best known for his roles as the soft-spoken swindler with an eye for the ladies in the comedies “Carry On” and “Doctor” in the 1950s and 1960s. Because of these films, he became famous for his catchphrases, “LUMME”, “WELL, HELLO”, “I SAY” and “DING DONG” – addressed to sexy women on camera. He often joked that his lines of conversation—delivered in rich soft tones—would follow him to the grave, and that one of those lines would likely be inscribed on his tombstone. Remarkably, he starred in only four of the 31 “Carry On” films and confessed that these harsh phrases were “a millstone around his neck.” Even his friends christened him King Lear after he played King Lear in a play for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His death – almost two years after Barbara Windsor’s – leaves Jim Dale, 86, as the last surviving Carry On regular. Leslie joined the Carry On cast after giving up a career in Hollywood to be with his wife Penny Bartley and their four children back in England. He later revealed that he enjoyed being “idolized” by the public, that he wished people would “look past the unpleasant behavior I was playing”. Although he spoke with a plum in his mouth, Leslie Samuel Phillips was born in April 1924 the third child of a working-class family living near White Hart Lane. His father, Fred, worked in a factory making gas stoves and died at the age of 44 from the atmospheric conditions. At the age of nine, Leslie saw his father lying in a coffin at home, his body still covered in fungus from the factory. The following year, his mum Margaret sent Leslie to Italy’s Conte stage school to lose his Cockney accent. He said: “All my friends and family were Londoners, real Cockneys. They had a hard time recognizing the new me, although my voice undoubtedly played a huge part in my success.” By 14, he was working in West End plays alongside Hollywood stars Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison. Two years later Phillips appeared in his first film, The Thief of Baghdad, and was proud to be the only actor still alive who had played at Pinewood Studios when it first opened in 1936.
BRILLIANT CAREER
In World War II he served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry, but was declared unfit for service shortly before D-Day with a nervous illness that caused partial paralysis. While his acting career took off after the war, his personal life was plagued by tragedy. He married actress Penelope Bartley in 1948 and they had two sons and two daughters. Despite returning from America, long absences away from home meant that the couple inevitably separated. By then he had begun a nine-year relationship with Caroline Mortimer, stepdaughter of Rumpole of the Bailey creator John Mortimer, followed by a relationship with actress Vicki Luke. Penny Bartley finally divorced him in 1965, but they remained in touch until he was killed in a house fire in 1981. At the time of Penny’s death, Leslie was starring in a show in Australia and did not return to the UK. His children never forgave him for missing their mom’s funeral. The following year he married Bond’s girlfriend Angela Square. When they got together five years earlier, she was pregnant with another man’s son, whom Leslie raised as his own. In 1993, Leslie’s beloved mum, then 92, was robbed at a bus stop by teenagers. Margaret wouldn’t leave her bag because it contained items that Leslie had given her. She was dragged down the street and broke several bones. He died a few weeks later. Phillips always maintained that she was murdered, but the youths responsible were never caught. His sister Doris, who had cared for their mother, never got over it and died of a stroke six months later. Then, in April 201, tragedy struck again. His wife Angela – who he first met on the set of Carry on Nurse – downed a deadly cocktail of drugs and alcohol to ease her terminal bowel cancer. Angela was airlifted to hospital, where she died the next day. Family friend Zara Carr comforted Leslie and helped him come to terms with Angela’s death. He later proposed to Zara, who was 30 years his junior, and she saved his life by acting quickly to get Leslie to hospital when he suffered a severe stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair. The Queen honored Leslie Phillips with an OBE in 1998 and ten years later made him a CBE for services to showbiz. 9 Phillips played the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter 9 Leslie and his Carry On co-stars Jack Douglas, Barbara Windsor and June Whitfield with actor Norman Wisdom (centre) Credit: PA:Press Association 9 He got a part in Carry On Constable against the advice of his agentCredit: Rex 9 He joined the cast after giving up a career in Hollywood to be with his wifeCredit: Rex 9 The actor starred in Don’t Just Lie There, Say Something in 1973Credit: Rex Features 9 Leslie’s wife Zara paid tributeCredit: Brad Wakefield – The Sun 9 The veteran actor has enjoyed a glittering careerCredit: Getty 9 The actor pictured with Katie Price in 2003Credit: Getty
