Andrew Sachs was born Andreas Siegfried Sachs in Berlin, Germany, to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother of half-Austrian descent. He emigrated to London with his parents in 1938, at the age of eight, to escape persecution by the Nazis.
Sachs rose to fame in the 1970s for his portrayal of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, earning a BAFTA nomination. He went on to have a long career in acting and voice-over work for television, film, and radio.
In his later years, Sachs continued to have success with roles in films such as Quartet, and as Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street. He was married to Melody Lang, with whom he adopted two sons and had one daughter.
Sachs began his acting career in repertory theatre and made his West End debut in the 1958 production of Simple Spymen. He made his screen debut in 1959 in the film The Night We Dropped a Clanger.
He is best known for his role as Manuel in Fawlty Towers, and during the shooting of the episode "The Germans", Sachs was left with second-degree acid burns due to a fire stunt. He also recorded four singles in character as Manuel, including a cover version of Joe Dolce's "Shaddap You Face".
In 2007, the BBC broadcast an adaptation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, in which Sachs portrayed Reg, the Regius Professor of Chronology. He later appeared in another Adams adaptation as the Book in the live tour of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Sachs was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012, which eventually left him unable to speak and forced him to use a wheelchair. He died on November 23, 2016, at the age of 86, and was buried on December 1, 2016.
On December 2, 2016, BBC One broadcast the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems" in his memory, with John Cleese leading tributes to Sachs, describing him as a "sweet, sweet man".
