Farewell to acting’s most famous “He-llo” with the passing of the great Leslie Phillips

Leslie was at Chichester Festival Theatre in 1996 when he played Sir Sampson Legend in Love for Love, a production which famously lost its lead before it had barely started. This was the show where Sir Derek Jacobi succumbed to appendicitis and David Weston had to take over as Jack Tattle from the first night.

But even without Sir Derek it was still a remarkable cast including Richard Garnett, Robert Cavanah, Richard Clifford, Malcolm Mudie, Paul Kavanagh, John Normington, Serena Evans and Jenny Quayle. Plus the tragic 2point4 Children star Gary Olsen who died four years later aged just 42. Also in the cast was the great now late Leslie Phillips, and I had the pleasure of interviewing him. It was the funniest thought that the combination of numbers in front of me would conjure one of the most famous Hellos the acting world has ever produced.

His other catchphrases, of course, were Ding Dong and I Say. But I was happy to settle for his richly-infused He-llo when I called him, followed by 15 mins of chat about the play and about his career. I can’t remember too much about what he said, but it was the glow that he left behind him – friendly, chatty, easy-going. There is always that slight relief, isn’t there, when someone terribly famous turns out also to be terribly decent, and Leslie was.

An awfully famous actor once decreed that he had reached the stage where he didn’t have to give interviews. Leslie could legitimately have claimed the same, but not a bit of it. He was happy to chat and had plenty to say.

His career was a remarkable one as well as a long one. He starred in 200 films, TV and radio series over his eight-decade career. More recently, with that wonderful voice, it seems he didn’t even need the body, becoming the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter franchise of films. And frankly, who wouldn’t want to be chosen by Leslie. RIP a truly great actor and a gentleman.