Ronnie Corbett

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Ronnie Corbett at the premiere of Burke & Hare (2010)

Ronald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett CBE (born December 4, 1930 in Edinburgh , Scotland , † March 31, 2016 in London ) was a Scottish actor , comedian , author and cabaret artist . which became popular in the 1960s, especially in England with the duo The Two Ronnies . He also played in several movies, including Casino Royale , One wants it, the other doesn't , No sex please, we're British and wild creatures .

life and career

Ronald Balfour Corbett was born in Scotland in 1930 as the son of a master baker. He attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh and graduated from high school. With a height of 1.55 m and thick glasses, he quickly discovered that you should be a "personality" in order to be taken seriously by those around you. He did his military service in the Royal Air Force . In a short time he became an officer and pilot in the British armed forces. In October 1951 his employment ended.

Through his active time in an amateur theater, organized by a church youth club, he received a lot of positive feedback as an actor regarding his powerful humor. So Corbett increasingly focused on his esprit and over the years became a comedian with spirit, wit, self-irony and character.

In 1952, after Corbett had moved to London in the meantime, he appeared for the first time in a minor supporting role in the comedy You're Only Young Twice directed by Terry Bishop . In the following years he focused on student roles in British cinema. Corbett worked in film, television, and on the stage during the 1950s. He played in 1963 in the first London production of the musical The Boys from Syracuse at the Theater Royal Drury Lane alongside Bob Monkhouse. In 1965 he played in the cabaret at Danny La Rue Mayfair nightclub. David Frost , a popular television presenter and satirist, saw him and asked him to appear on his Frost Report . Corbett played Will Scarlett in Lionel Bart's musical adaptation of Robin Hood in London's West End .

In 1966 he finally made his breakthrough as a comedian when he appeared in the Frost Report in 1966 and 1967 together with Ronnie Barker . The duo The Two Ronnies was born. The authors and performers of the Frost Report , mostly Oxbridge graduates, worked in the footlights tradition. Corbett and Barker worked together like two high school students who hadn't gone to university. The show was a mixture of satirical monologues, sketches and music. You and John Cleese appeared in one of the most repeated skits on British television. In sequels to the Frost Report , Corbett often starred alongside actors from the Monty Python group such as Graham Chapman and Eric Idle . By 1967, Corbett was so popular in England that producer Charles K. Feldman offered him a small role in his international star James Bond parody Casino Royale . In 1970 he played the lead role in the British comedy One Wants, The Other Not, directed by Duncan Wood. He had another lead role in 1973 in Cliff Owen's comedy Please Don't Have Sex, We're British . In 1997 he starred in another movie alongside his old friend John Cleese in Wild Creatures , directed by Fred Schepisi and Robert Young. In 2010 he accepted a small guest role in John Landis ' black comedy Burke & Hare .

His BBC TV comedy show with Ronnie Barker, The Two Ronnies , ran from 1971 to 1987. His most famous role, other than in The Two Ronnies, was on the sitcom Sorry! , in which he played Timothy Lumsden, who is around 40 and is dominated by his mother.

Corbett married the actress and dancer Anne Hart in 1965. The two had two daughters, actresses Emma and Sophie Corbett. Already Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), he was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2012 for his outstanding services in entertainment and charity.

Books (selection)

  • 2003: The Two Ronnies: Their Funniest Jokes, One-Liners and Sketches , by Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett
  • 2006: And It's Goodnight from Him  … The Autobiography of the Two Ronnies, by Ronnie Corbett
  • 2012: High Hopes: My Autobiography , by Ronnie Corbett

Filmography (selection)

  • 1952: You're Only Young Twice
  • 1958: Rockets Galore!
  • 1962: A Kingdom for a Monkey (Operation Snatch)
  • 1967: Casino Royale
  • 1970: Some Will, Some Won't
  • 1973: No Sex Please: We're British
  • 1997: Fierce Creatures (Fierce Creatures)
  • 2010: Burke & Hare

literature

  • Ronnie Corbett . In: Frank Krutnik, Steve Neale: Popular Film and Television Comedy. , Routledge, 2006

Web links

Commons : Ronnie Corbett  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ronnie Corbett dead: Entertainer and comedian dies aged 85. In: independent.co.uk. The Independent , March 31, 2016, accessed March 31, 2016 .
  2. ^ Biographical data of Ronnie Corbett in: The New York Times
  3. ↑ The Autobiography of the Two Ronnies, by Ronnie Corbett
personal data
SURNAME Corbett, Ronnie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Corbett, Ronald Balfour
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish actor, comedian and cabaret artist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh , Scotland , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 2016
Place of death London , England , UK