Leslie Phillips was an English actor, voice artist, and author. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilizing his “Ding Dong” and “He-llo” catchphrases.
Phillips made his stage debut in 1937 as a wolf in Peter Pan alongside Anna Neagle at the London Palladium.
In the 1938-39 season, he was promoted to the role of John Napoleon Darling, alongside Jean Forbes-Robertson as Peter and Seymour Hicks as Captain Hook.
His big break in films was in the Gene Kelly musical Les Girls (1957). Although the film was a critical success, he decided against a move to Hollywood, in part because he considered himself primarily a theatre actor and didn’t want to become “the poor man’s David Niven”.
After his marriage to Angela Scoular in 1982, Phillips decided to move away from playing the kind of lecherous twits with suave chat-up lines which had characterized much of his previous work.
He remained busy in both stage and television productions, along with character roles in films such as Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987), Scandal (1989), and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).
Phillips also provided the voice for the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films, appearing in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
In 2012, in conjunction with Amazing Journeys Publishing, Phillips voiced the audiobook Chequered Justice by former racing driver John Bartlett.
Leslie Phillips died on 7 November 2022 after a long illness, at the age of 98.
He is survived by his five children; Claudia Phillips, Caroline Phillips, Andrew Phillips, Roger Phillips, and Daniel Phillips.
Phillips’s funeral arrangement is yet to be announced by the family.