Sykes's entertainment career as a writer for TV and radio, actor and director spanned seven decades and included work with comedy greats such as Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Hattie Jacques.
The TV star's manager Norma Farnes said this morning (July 4): "Eric Sykes, star of TV, stage and films, died peacefully this morning after a short illness. His family were with him."
Sykes, who was born in Oldham, first began working in entertainment while in the RAF Special Liaison Unit during World War 2. When the war ended, Sykes moved to London and thanks to a chance meeting with actor and former air force colleague Bill Fraser, he managed to land work writing for television and radio.
He went on to write for Frankie Howerd, Educating Archie and began teaming up with Spike Milligan on the iconic radio series The Goons. One of his best loved comedy works was the 1967 silent film The Plank, which featured Tommy Cooper, Roy Castle, Bill Oddie and Jimmy Tarbuck.
Sykes is best remembered for his TV work in the 1960s and '70s, when he regularly teamed up with Hattie Jacques in the sitcoms and sketch shows Sykes and a..., Sykes and a Big Big Show and Sykes.
He also branched out into movies appearing in films such as Monte Carlo Or Bust, Absolute Beginners, Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines and more recently The Others with Nicole Kidman and British comedy Son of Rambow.
Sykes continued to work on TV shows and movies late into his career, providing voiceovers for the children's series Teletubbies, appearing in TV shows such as Gormenghast, Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies, My Family and even appeared as Frank Bryce in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
His last TV role came in 2010 when he appeared in a cameo role as Mr Fullerton in ITV's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party.
Sykes's had to cope with being deap from his early '30s and his famous thick-ripped glasses were actually a hearing-aid then worked through vibrations. Later in his career, he also had to battle with blindness, but neither deterred him from his showbiz career.
