Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, who played hapless Spanish waiter Manuel in the BBC sitcom, has died aged 86, his family has confirmed.

The actor died on 23 November and was buried on Thursday, according to an interview with his wife Melody in the Daily Mail.

She told the newspaper that Sachs was diagnosed with dementia four years ago.

On his role of Manuel, Sachs said in 2014: “It was just a part I was playing and people seemed to laugh.”

Manuel was one of the most imitated comedy characters of the 1970s. The waiter, who famously hailed from Barcelona, often said little more than the word “Que?” to generate laughs, but arguably his most famous line was “I know nothing”.

Obituary: Andrew Sachs

The waiter was regularly shown being hit by John Cleese’s hotel manager character, Basil Fawlty.

“I never got upset when he hit me,” Sachs said in 2014.

“He’s my friend, I must say yes, yes [it hurt], several times, more than once.”

Cleese, 77, who was also the co-creator of Fawlty Towers, paid tribute to “a very sweet, gentle and kind man”.

He wrote on Twitter: “Just heard about Andy Sachs. Very sad.

“A very sweet gentle 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.”

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