"Well hello," says Leslie Phillips as I walk into his hotel suite. I'm ever so pleased. I might have been disappointed if, in the flesh, he wasn't quite so, well, Leslie Phillips-ish.
Despite a remarkable career in film, at 84, Mr. Phillips is instantly recognisable as the charming upper-class cad from such naughty British classics as Carry On Nurse and Doctor In Trouble. I wonder how often people still pester him to say "ding dong" and other trademark leery phrases.
"Oh, all the time," he laughs. "It's strange because I had an entire career behind me when I starred in those films but people always remember 'ding dong'."
Quite contrary to his public persona, Phillips was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father manufactured cookers in Edmonton, London and dreadful working conditions led to his premature death at the age of 44. It was his mother who decided that young Leslie should be sent to the Italia Conti Academy to receive speech lessons. It was a prudent move at a time when regional English dialects were not heard on screen. By 1938, at the age of 14, Mr. Phillips had lost all vestiges of his cockney accent and was the main family breadwinner as a child actor.
"At the time one couldn't be an actor without speaking like this," he recalls. "Regional accents were completely taboo. Now it's totally different. Now you speak as you were born. But it has been an incredible gift in a way. I've got terribly good diction and it's helped me get into the classics. I just hope I haven't become too grand.
His upper-crust tones also meant selection for officer training during World War II. Though he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, the war took its toil and he was, for a short time, treated in a psychiatric hospital.
"It's funny what assumptions people make when they hear your voice," he says. "It gives you a kind of status. The army immediately decided I was sensible, the sort to be put in charge. I had, as you say, mixed experiences, but I did quite well in the army really. I didn't get killed. I think that was rather clever of me."
Since then, he has starred in hundreds of films including Lara Croft: Tombraider, Out Of Africa, Empire Of The Sun and Scandal. He also provides the voice of the sorting hat in the Harry Potter franchise. Currently, you can catch him in Venus in a BAFTA nominated performance alongside Peter O'Toole. The provocative film written by Hanif Kureshi also stars Jodie Whittaker as a young regional chav who goes to stay with her great-uncle (Phillips) in London. She immediately attracts the attentions of his elderly actor friend Maurice (O'Toole) and an inappropriate flirtation ensues.
"It was a wonderful script," says Mr. Phillips. "There's a real humour to it. And the drama between Peter and the girl is remarkable. Oh, and the director, Roger Michell, was a calm, lovely man. They're not all like that I can tell you. I've had some right shits." Really? Anyone in particular? "Oh I could hardly remember the names at my age. And you know, sometimes it's good to have the ones that shout at you. They make you work that bit harder."
A known rogue, both on and off the screen for many decades, Leslie Phillips has now been married to former Bond-girl Angela Scoular for 20 years. I wonder how she managed to get him towing the line.
"Oh, I don't know about that dear," he laughs. "I don't think I can tow the line."
Glad to hear it.