Leslie Phillips’ family sue Carry On star’s ex-air hostess widow in High Court as she refuses to leave his £4.4m mansion

The family of Harry Potter actor Leslie Phillips are preparing for a High Court battle over his widow’s multimillion-pound will after she refused to abandon their London estate.

Zara Carr married Phillips in 2013 when she was 89 and he was in his mid-50s and has been living in their £4.4million home since his death four years ago.

The legendary actor, who starred in 150 films, suffered a life-threatening stroke in 2015 and was recovering at his home in West London before his death.

Phillips died at home in November 2022, aged 98, and details of his will, which valued the estate at £5.2 million, were first made public in August 2024.

The will was prepared four years before he died and stipulated that the house must be sold by August 2025, two years and nine months after his death.

It was stated that the proceeds from the sale should be transferred to a foundation to be divided between Phillips’ four children from his first marriage and his third wife, Carr.

This meant Carr would have to leave the property; but Carr stays put after insisting that Phillips promised him he could stay there for the rest of his life.

Case information submitted on Tuesday revealed the argument, which saw the children confront Ms Carr, was set to be decided in the High Court in London.

Leslie Phillips with Zara Carr at her wedding celebration in London in December 2013

Zara Carr has been living in her £4.4million west London home since Leslie Phillips’ death

‘Don’t Just Lay There, Say Something!’ Starring Leslie Phillips, Joanna Lumley and Brian Rix

The plaintiff in the case was listed as ‘Terrell (as executor of the estate of the late Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE), Martin Edward’, referring to solicitor Martin Terrell. The defendant was called ‘Phillips, Zara Elizabeth’.

The case was listed as ‘Probate Chapter 8 claim – inheritance (provision for family/dependents)’. ‘Section 8’ means there is no material dispute as to the facts.

Carr had previously threatened to take legal action amid fears she might be forced to leave their marital home after Phillips’ affairs were placed under administration by his lawyer under the Mental Capacity Act.

However, when he learned of the Supreme Court case, he said: Sun In front of his house yesterday: ‘I was very surprised. I had no idea about all this. Leslie’s children have never contacted me.

‘If they want me to come to court, I will go. If necessary, I will come to court and fight. I plan to stay. I have no plans to move; ‘This is my home.’

Phillips was known for his catchphrases ‘Ding Dong’, ‘Well, Hello’ and ‘I Say’ in Doctor and Carry On, and also voiced the Sorting Hat in the Potter films.

Carr, a widowed former air stewardess and social worker, first met Phillips at a crosswalk near her home.

A year after their marriage, he suffered a stroke and she cared for him at home for the next eight years.

Leslie Phillips married his first wife, Penny Bartley, in 1948 at All Souls Church in St John’s Wood.

(left to right), Andrew, one; Leslie Phillips, Claudia, four; Penny Bartley and Caroline; six, in 1955

Leslie Phillips with his second wife, former Bond Girl Angela Scoular, who died in 2011

Leslie Phillips played the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter film series

Leslie Phillips and Barbara Roscoe in the 1964 comedy Father Came Too!

Carr gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when he turned “black and blue” during a seizure following a stroke in 2015.

Phillips had two sons and two daughters by his first wife (Caroline, Claudia, Andrew and Roger), to whom he left £50,000 and almost three-quarters of the trust fund established by the will.

His 15 grandchildren received £5,000 each.

Carr was left with £155,000, plus ten of her late husband’s belongings worth £1,500 each, and more than a quarter of the shares in her trust fund.

Phillips was born into a working-class family in Tottenham, North London, on 20 April 1924 and made his film debuts as a child in the 1930s.

Before her stroke, she was still working and appearing in many British TV series, including the Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Revolver and Agatha Christie’s Marple.

Phillips’ first wife, Penny Bartley, with whom he maintained contact after their divorce, died in a house fire in 1981.

His second wife, former Bond Girl Angela Scoular, whom he married in 1982, died in 2011 after drinking a corrosive cleaning fluid.

The Daily Mail contacted Mr Terrell for comment.