Leslie Phillips: Film star and part-time sofa salesman in Wales

Actor Leslie Phillips, who has died aged 98, helped to found a family-run furniture shop in south Wales

Leslie Phillips may have been better known for his "Ding Dong!" catchphrase and playing lecherous bounders, but he also had a more unlikely career in furniture sales.

The veteran actor, who has died at 98, was most familiar for his work in the Carry On and Harry Potter films.

But he also helped to found a family-run furniture store in south Wales.

"He would ring and you'd answer the phone and you'd have from him that famous 'hello'," said Rhian Francis.

She runs The Place for Homes in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, and said the actor was involved with the business for more than 50 years.

He even gave a speech at her wedding which, naturally, began with that "hello..."

She said: "He was a lovely man, very much the English gentleman".

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The comedy Casanova was one of the original founders of the store in the 1970s alongside Ms Francis's father Graham Nelson, and was heavily involved in the business ever since.

"We would have regular board meetings that he would attend, and any sort of long-term planning was made as a family, with Leslie, he was very much part of the team," Ms Francis told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

Leslie Phillips, pictured in the centre with the family in 2012, was involved in the store since its opening

Leslie Phillips came up with the name The Place for Homes when founding the company in the 1970s

Mr Nelson first met him when he joined a company of which the Bafta-nominated actor was director, and the relationship grew over the years.

Eventually they entered business together, and Phillips came up with the name The Place For Homes.

Ms Francis said that over the decades he became a part of the family, and would ring almost every week to speak to her father.

'Hello darling'

"He would ring and you'd answer the phone and you'd have from him that famous 'hello', and it would be 'hello darling, how are you, may I speak to your daddy please'.

"So we were used to hearing that catchphrase on a regular basis."

Leslie Phillips and his wife, the actress Angela Scoular, attended Rhian Francis's wedding

She said that many of the staff who worked in the store over the years have met him: "He was always very gracious, he would stop and accept the autograph (requests)".

"He was always very generous in the way he would speak to people and interact with them, so a lovely, lovely man."

She said one of her fondest memories was when he and his wife, the late Angela Scoular, attended her wedding.

"He came around the top table, put his hand on my father's shoulder and my shoulder and actually spoke.

"He started the speech with the famous 'hello' which set the tone for the whole speech. That's probably one of the fondest memories I have of him."

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