Ronald Balfour Corbett, 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 sketeches 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.
His best known role away from The Two Ronnies is
as Timothy Lumsden in the sitcom Sorry. He has continued
to play minor parts occasionally since the end of this
- notably playing Griselda in a television production
of Cinderella in 2000, and recently reformed with Ronnie
Barker for more episodes of The Two Ronnies. He was
seen most recently alongside comedian Peter Kay in
the spoof music video for the number 1 single 'Is This
the Way to Amarillo?', originally sung by Tony Christie. |