He returned to films in the late 1980s in largely comedy character roles. Like most of his contemporaries, he did a stint in Hollywood, but he preferred Britain.
“I could have stayed,” he said once, “but I am a Londoner through and through. I want to go everywhere, but I will always want to live in London. So I came back.”
It was in the mid-1980s that he decided to become a serious actor. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and played roles such as Falstaff in The Merry Wives Of Windsor.
In December 2013, Phillips, aged 89, married Zara Carr, his third wife. He suffered a stroke while on a shopping trip with his wife in London in August 2014.
A few months later, Phillips was again admitted to hospital after suffering a seizure.
Tributes are flowing for the actor, including from Morris Bright MBE, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Tony Maudsley and Stuart Antony.
Bhaskar tweeted: “One of the wonderful elements of doing The Kumars at No 42 was combining guests like here, Madness and the wonderful Leslie Phillips, who couldn’t have been more of a gent.
