Ronnie Corbett
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.