The man who acted as minder to screen goddess Marlene Dietrich when she visited Britain has died aged 74.

Ray Walters, a Brighton cabbie, started working for the singer and actress when she appeared at the Theatre Royal in 1965.

She took such a shine to him that he ferried her around for the rest of her tour in the country.

Mr Walters once said: "She told me not to let her out of her sight until she had gone to bed.

"I used to drive her to and from the Metropole Hotel, stand in the wings during her show, and even order food for her at English's Oyster Bar."

Mr Walters, who died from heart failure at Brighton General Hospital on Wednesday, was born in Cardiff and moved to Brighton more than 50 years ago.

During a long and varied career he became known to thousands of people, ranging from the famous to the infamous.

He had a knack of getting on with everyone, even the most difficult. He became friendly with the notably irascible Gilbert Harding, the broadcaster and TV star who had a home in Brighton.

Mr Walters could also be tenacious and in 1982 he staged a one-man protest outside Brighton Town Hall after the council refused to grant him a taxi licence following a heart operation He was a cabbie for many years and founded Brighton Radio Cabs. In the Fifties and Sixties he was a drummer in a band that appeared in Chatfields, West Street.

He also ran a cafe in Queen's Road and had three kiosks on the seafront near the Palace Pier.

Mr Walters was a lifeguard as a young man and became coxswain of Brighton inshore lifeboat.

While on holiday in the Costa Brava in 1960, he rescued a man from the waves of a pleasure beach and gave artificial respiration until the swimmer recovered.

Mr Walters, of Croft Road, Brighton, leaves a widow, Peggy, two sons, Garry and Graham, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have yet to be confirmed.

Garry Walters said: "He was a lovely guy, a real Brighton character. There were so many things he did."