John Inman – known to millions as the cartoonishly gay one from sitcom Are You Being Served? – has died this morning in a London hospital after a battle with liver disease, it has been announced. He was 71.

According to reports, John Inman died at 4am today in St Mary's Hospital in Paddington after a long illness. John Inman's manager Phil Dale gave the following statement:

"John, through his character Mr Humphries of Are You Being Served? was known and loved throughout the world. He was one of the best and finest pantomime dames working to capacity audiences throughout Britain. John was known for his comedy plays and farces which were enjoyed from London's West End throughout the country and as far as Australia, Canada and the USA."

John Inman was by far the biggest star of Are You Being Served?, even more so than Pauline Fowler, the purple-haired woman with a vagina fixation and the old man who we think played Colonel Mustard in the short-lived Cluedo TV series about 12 years ago. John Inman's flamboyant portrayal of homosexual stereotype Mr Humphries – and his "I'm free!" catchphrase – won him a legion of fans stretching from the home counties to deepest darkest redneck America, and it's that role which he'll be most remembered for, although he did have an equally successful career basically playing himself in all sorts of plays around the world.

John Inman's partner Ron Lynch is said to be "devastated" by the death. John Inman and Ron Lynch had been together for over three decades and married in London in 2005.

All that without a tasteless "I'm dead!" or Are You Being Cremated? crack, too. If we'd have ever met John Inman, we're 70% sure that would have been what he would have said he would have wanted.

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Actor John Inman Dies Aged 71 – Telegraph