Andrew Sachs, best known for his role in the beloved 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers, has died at the age of 86.

The actor, who starred as hapless Spanish waiter Manuel in the comedy about a gaffe-prone hotel, reportedly passed away in a care home last week.

His wife Melody said he had been diagnosed with vascular dementia four years ago, but his condition had rapidly deteriorated in the days before his death.

"My heart has been broken every day for a long time," Mrs Sachs told the Daily Mail.

"It wasn't until the very end that it got very bad. He couldn't speak because he had vascular dementia - that means that you lose your speech but you don't lose your mind."


John Cleese, who starred as Manuel's flustered boss in Fawlty Towers, said he had "no idea" that his friend's life had been in danger.

"A very sweet, gentle and kind man and a truly great farceur," Cleese wrote about Sachs on Twitter. "I first saw him in Habeas Corpus on stage in 1973. I could not have found a better Manuel. Inspired."

Image: Fawlty Towers ran for two series between 1975 and 1979

Sachs continued to work in his later years, with recurring roles in the likes of Casualty and Coronation Street.

But the veteran actor also had an unwelcome return to front-page news in 2008 when Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left lewd messages on his answering machine.

The voicemails, which were broadcast on Brand's late-night Radio 2 programme, included obscene remarks about Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.

The scandal quickly became known as "Sachsgate", with Brand resigning from his show and Ross suspended from the BBC for three months as an investigation took place.

At the time, Sachs told reporters he did not want to take the matter to the police, adding: "These two are performers, I'm a performer, and sometimes it goes very wrong and it's up to them to do better."

Image: Andrew Sachs speaks to reporters after the Sachsgate scandal

Sachs was born in Berlin in 1930, and his family moved to England when he was eight years old to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews.

His wife of 57 years, Melody, cared for him throughout his illness. They had three children.

Comedian Sir Tony Robinson, who starred in Blackadder, wrote on Twitter: "So sad that Andrew Sachs has died. A true friend and a kindred spirit.

"I still have the wonderful baby pictures he took of my children. RIP."

And David Walliams, the creator of Little Britain, described Sachs' famous performances as "comic perfection", tweeting: "A beautiful soul who never tired of all my Fawlty Towers questions."

Samuel West, whose mother Prunella Scales starred alongside Sachs in Fawlty Towers, said: "Creator of one of our most beloved EU migrants. Such warmth and wit; impossible to think of him without smiling."