Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour Corbett (born December 4, 1930 in Edinburgh, commonly accredited as Ronnie Corbett) is a British comedian and actor, best known as one of The Two Ronnies.
He has worked in film and television since the 1950s, appearing in Crackerjack as a regular in its early days during the 1950s. He played a minor part in the film Casino Royale.
He rose in prominence in the 1960s and his BBC television comedy sketch show with Ronnie Barker, The Two Ronnies, lasted from 1971 to 1987. This show saw both Barker and Corbett performing various comedy sketches and musical numbers. Additionally, in the middle of the show, Corbett would present a lengthy monologue. Sitting in a large leather chair (emphasising his small size), and usually wearing a golfing V-neck sweater, he would tell a simple joke over the space of several minutes, often deliberately allowing himself to lose his train of thought. Although seemingly improvised, these were tightly scripted affairs.
Corbett is perhaps best known as the comedian's straight-man and achieved a unique cult status in this way - a relatively small individual who loves to play golf, he often became the butt of other comedian's jokes, even when he wasn't present and even if there wasn't an obvious connection between him and the comedian in question. However, his own skills as an outright comedian were never doubted and his peers thought extremely highly of him.
His best known role away from The Two Ronnies is as Timothy Lumsden in the sitcom Sorry. He also hosted the quiz show Child's Play and has continued to play minor parts occasionally since the end of this — notably playing Griselda in a television production of Cinderella in 2000, and reviving his armchair monologue routines for a weekly guest appearance in a stand-up show hosted by Ben Elton, a lifelong fan.
Corbett recently reformed with Ronnie Barker for more episodes of The Two Ronnies and was seen most recently alongside comedian Peter Kay, another huge fan, in the spoof music video for the number 1 single 'Is This the Way to Amarillo?', originally sung by Tony Christie.
Corbett married the actress and dancer Anne Hart in 1965 with whom he has two children, the actresses Emma Corbett and Sophie Corbett.
Corbett has lived for many years in Shirley, Croydon.
The character "The Bear" (see Leigh Francis) is based on Ronnie Corbett.
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