Remembering Leslie Phillips - "the serene and magnificent galleon" of the acting profession

Leslie, who has died at the age of 98, was certainly a key member of the company at Chichester Festival Theatre in Love for Love in 1996 when Sir Derek Jacobi succumbed to appendicitis and David Weston had to take over as Jack Tattle from the first night. Joe was helping on the production, one of many he worked on at the CFT during several years there in the mid-1990s. Leslie was playing Sir Sampson Legend.

“It was a production that was rather overshadowed by Derek coming out of it,” Joe recalls.

But of Leslie, Joe has nothing but the fondest memories: “In a good way, when you think about Leslie, there are no grand stories that come to mind. For somebody that was so iconic he was just totally and utterly normal and charming. He was really self-effacing. I was trying to think about the great anecdotes but what I do remember when we had all this business of Derek going and David having to take over was that Leslie was absolutely brilliant. He was an actor’s actor. He was a hugely supportive member of the company. I can particularly remember when David took over and did so amazingly well, Leslie was just hugely supportive of a fellow actor. He was a kind of the father figure for the company. He was the guy that was saying ‘Everything will be alright. We are in safe hands.’ and his calmness really got us through what could have been a really shaky moment for the company. I remember him sailing through everything serenely like a magnificent galleon. I just never heard anything bad about him and it is just such a joy when somebody who is so iconic is so lovely to work with. He seemed so grounded and centred and so happy within himself.

“Like so many actors of his age he had been in the army during the war and there was a big thing about that generation that had seen active service. There was something very, very no-nonsense about them and about Leslie. They will have their way of performing but there was also that thing of ‘It's only acting, love.’ That generation knew what real stress was about. And he was also very truthful. You think of his little catchphrases and his little winks but his performances were always tremendously truthful and had a pathos about them. He always managed to make his characters, however lecherous they were, show a kind of vulnerability which made you attracted to them. They will never cads. They were always slightly flawed and vulnerable people.”