Leslie Phillips

Born in London, Leslie Phillips studied for the stage at the famous Italia Conti School and won several child roles before his first adult West End performance.

This was rapidly followed by four years' war service with the Durham Light Infantry.

After doing his bit for king and country, Phillips "drifted back into the theatre" and the new boom area, film. Throughout the 50s and 60s he appeared in a wide variety of films and did a stint in Hollywood but returned to London to make his three Carry On films.

He became well-known for appearing in the Doctor films, and a series of fast-moving comedies with Scots comedian and impressionist Stanley Baxter. Within the space of five years, Phillips had made 18 starring comedies when suddenly the output of comedy from British studios became quite restricted. During the 1970s, he found himself in lesser TV roles.

Phillips returned to films in the 1980s in character roles - starting with a relatively minor role in a major feature film, Out of Africa. This helped him to win a meatier part in Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. The 1990s saw him in a variety of TV drama roles in programmes such as Chancer and David Nobbs's widely acclaimed Love on the Branch Line.

In 1996 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company under Adrian Noble, playing roles such as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Recently he has starred in BBC1's Holby City, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and is the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films.