![]() ![]() My job with him was not the slapstick fun he became best known for, but the sad story of a man mourning the loss of his wife, and seemingly choosing to let go to join her. Oh, the villa in Ibiza the stories from there, well.īut when we arrived on set, he was the consummate professional. He said he'd bought a Rolls Royce, a house in London's Maida Vale, and a villa in Ibiza in his early years of success and he still had all of them. He knew what it was to be poor, and when I asked his advice on our volatile profession he told me to buy "good stuff" when working and to never sell anything. He'd been born in Tottenham and only acquired the plummy tones that gave the impression of a silver spoon at Italia Conti stage school years later. He was such an extraordinary raconteur, so funny and generous and no-holds barred it was like a a tour through the golden age of British cinema, perhaps in an open top car, most likely with Terry Thomas along for the ride. Daily, from the make-up truck to the journey home, I would turn on the tap and ask for more and more stories. And Leslie did not disappoint - he was not, as they say, a hard stitch to pull for a yarn. I'm not saying that my working with one of his heroes is why my husband married me, but it's in there. After years of my then boyfriend (now husband) watching the entire box set of Chancer, at the very least biannually, I found out I was to play the interfering nurse to his dying widower in the ITV series Where The Heart Is. It was my great fortune to live on a diet of these kinds of stories, when for a couple of weeks I had the privilege of working with Leslie. ![]() ![]() ![]() The story goes that Leslie had fallen about laughing when, while dressed as a policeman, Kenneth Williams held up the Ealing traffic and then proceeded to pee in the middle of the street. While all the studio filming of the Carry On films took place at Pinewood, Ealing was the location for Carry On Constable. I first learned of Leslie Phillips' death while out shopping in Ealing. 'His stories were like a tour of the golden age of British cinema' - actress Kerrie Taylor ![]()
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