Andrew Sachs, who played harangued Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers has died aged 86 after a four-year battle with dementia.

His wife, Melody Sachs, told British media that Sachs died in a rest home on Thursday.

“My heart has been broken every day for a long time,” she said with sadness, but adding that her husband had remained positive to the end.

“I never once heard him grumble.”

“It wasn’t all doom and gloom, he still worked for two years.

“We were happy, we were always laughing, we never had a dull moment. He had dementia for four years and we didn’t really notice it at first until the memory started going.”

Sachs was born in Berlin in 1930 and emigrated to Britain in 1938 to escape the National Socialist regime. In his new home he had a long career as a stage and screen actor and performed in radio productions for the BBC in the 1950s.

But Sachs will live on in people’s memories as the much put-upon waiter, Manuel, in Fawlty Towers which remains a comedy icon more than 40 years since its first episode, despite the fact only 12 episodes were ever made.

Fawlty Towers creator and actor John Cleese paid tribute to his co-star on Twitter.

“I knew he was having problems with his memory as his wife Melody told me a couple of years ago and I heard very recently that he had been admitted to Denham Hall, but I had no idea that his life was in danger.

“A very sweet gentle and kind man and a truly great farceur.

“I could not have found a better Manuel. Inspired.”

Just heard about Andy Sachs. Very sad….
I knew he was having problems with his memory as his wife Melody told me a couple of years ago…

— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) December 1, 2016

…and kind man and a truly great farceur.I first saw him in Habeas Corpus on stage in 1973.I could not have found a better Manuel. Inspired

— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) December 1, 2016

Interestingly, Fawlty Towers’ writers originally planned to make the waiter character a German due to Sachs’s background, and because he wasn’t sure if he could master a Spanish accent.

But they stuck with the Spanish character, making the line, “he’s from Barcelona”, a much reprised line from the classic comedy.

“What is Witnit?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6EaoPMANQM

Manuel mans the phones in Fawlty Towers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TES2kgPF4Wk

Blackadder actor and comedian Sir Tony Robinson paid tribute to his “true friend”. He wrote on Twitter: “So sad that Andrew Sachs has died. A true friend and a kindred spirit.

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.

— Tony Robinson (@Tony_Robinson) December 1, 2016