Comedy writer and actor who starred in 70s sitcom Sykes and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has died after a short illness

From writing a film where the only word uttered is "rhubarb" to creating one of TV's most popular sitcom partnerships, Eric Sykes – who died on Wednesday aged 89 – will be remembered as one of Britain's finest comedy actors and writers.

Tributes came in thick and fast for a man who was seldom off radios, stages or screens in a career spanning 60 years that will spark different memories for different generations.

Some will know him best for writing and directing the silly slapstick film The Plank while others will remember his sitcom partnership with Hattie Jacques, who played his perpetually exasperated sister.

More recently, in the face of near total deafness and blindness, Sykes appeared in the fourth Harry Potter film and, in 2007, the British comedy Son of Rambow.