It's a sad day for 'Wallace and Gromit' fans as it's announced that the voice of Nick Park's much-beloved animation, Peter Sallis, had passed away last week at the age of 96. He was staying at a London retirement home at the time of his death.

Peter Sallis at 'The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' premierePeter Sallis at 'The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' premiere

Also well known for starring in the British sitcom 'Last of the Summer Wine', Peter Sallis was confirmed to have died on Friday (June 2nd 2017) at Denville Hall nursing home surrounded by his loving family. It's a place popular with former actors and actresses, and the same place where Richard Attenborough and Andrew Sachs died.

'It is with sadness that we announce that our client Peter Sallis died peacefully, with his family by his side, at Denville Hall on Friday 2 June', his agents at Jonathan Altaras Associates confirmed in a statement.

Peter had been doing the voice of Wallace in the stop-motion clay animation 'Wallace and Gromit' for 21 years - including the Academy Award winning feature film 'The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' - before the role was taken over by Ben Whitehead in 2011. Interestingly, he also starred in the 1961 horror 'The Curse of the Werewolf'.

Meanwhile, Peter Sallis is the only actor to have appeared in all 295 episodes of 'Last of the Summer Wine', from the time it started in 1973 to the last episode in 2010. He played Norman 'Cleggy' Clegg, a widowed neurotic, in the series and it was his very last acting venture. 

His voice is also recognisable at Rat in the 80s TV series 'The Wind in the Willows', and he even made a cameo in the 2005 film 'Color Me Kubrick' which starred John Malkovich. 

More: Nick Park behind new animated film 'Early Man'

Peter Sallis is survived by his 57-year-old son Crispian Sallis, an Oscar nominated art director who Peter fathered with his ex-wife Elaine Usher.