As one half of The Two Ronnies, his laugh-out-loud sketches, madcap news reports, hilariously rambling monologues and stupendous songs had millions glued to their TV on Saturday nights.
The late Ronnie Corbett, along with his bespectacled pal Ronnie Barker, was a national treasure.
In a heartwarming documentary to be aired tonight, Ronnie Corbett’s, family and friends reveal the man behind the fanfare was just as wonderful in real life.
“His fans just adored him,” says wife Anne. “I think everybody thought he was a lovely person, but I suppose some people look like they’re nice and they’re not really. But Ron was a lovely person, he really was.”
As part of the documentary – The Two Ronnies: Ronnie Corbett’s Lost Tapes – Anne along with the couple’s daughters Emma and Sophie look at archive footage of their time together including trips abroad.
Ronnie, who died five years ago aged 85, and his famous laugh are at the heart of the action in the tapes.
“Seeing some of the films again all these years later, with the girls when they were little, and my lovely Ron swimming in the pool, well it was very emotional,” says Anne. “We all cried.”
Daughter Sophie adds: “Now seems like the right time, because I want everyone out there to know the man, not just the comedian.”
Anne says: “We had a very special relationship. I’d known him for six years as a friend, and I think that’s the best way to start a relationship.”
She adds: “I feel extremely blessed. He was very kind, although he wasn’t soppy. He couldn’t bear the thought of candles over dinner for an anniversary. But he was the most generous man in the world and we really used to laugh.
“I think he was 5ft 2in, and I’m about 5ft 8in. But that wasn’t all, because when we met and I was performing in the clubs I’d have my 4in heels on and a great big wig, so I was probably more like 6ft 4in. It didn’t bother me. I knew what a wonderful person he was.”
Born the son of an Edinburgh baker in 1930, Ronnie’s start in life was modest. An aunt investigated techniques to help make people taller – essentially “stretching”, Ronnie said.
At 16 he discovered his flair for entertainment while performing as the wicked aunt in a church panto.
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After his national service in the RAF, at 21 he moved to London to pursue his dream of a life in entertainment with a grand total of £91 in his account.
Living in a bedsit and doing everything from bar work to shifts in a betting shop, it wasn’t until the late-1950s that he started getting regular work in nightclubs.
He soon met singer and dancer Anne Hart at Winston’s night club, just off Bond Street.
Comedy writer Barry Cryer says: “We could tell Ronnie was attracted to her, but being a gentleman, he was doing nothing about it.” Because, at the time, Anne was already married.
Anne said: “The marriage [went] down the swanny quite quickly.
“I’d never been so alone. I went in one night and Ron said, ‘I go to a little club called the Buxton. Meet me down there’. That was the little spark.”
But as friendship grew into romance, Anne was invited to perform in Australia.
With four months apart, the sweethearts wrote regularly. Speaking to the Mirror, Anne says she rediscovered the letters 18 months ago.
“I sat here reading them, about four a day,” she recalls. “I couldn’t read any more. He was here with me as I read them. He was absolutely here with me. It was very, very moving.”
Revealing the nature of the notes, Anne says: “It was ‘how much I miss you’, ‘I have never felt like this’, ‘I can’t wait for you to come back so we can do all these lovely things together’.”
She reads: “‘Darling, at this moment I would just love to kiss you and hold you just for a moment... Roll on June and July. You are my wanton woman’.”
Despite the romantic nature of the letters, Anne says the man who went on to be her husband often struggled to open up emotionally.
“He found it very difficult,” she says. “So before I went away I said ‘if you want to say something nice to me and you can’t, say Ambrosia Cream Rice, then I know you’re saying something nice’.”
She then reads a note which ended: “My love and kisses in the biggest possible way. ACR to you.”
Anne says: “When I got back... we both knew we really had a lovely relationship and we never really left each other’s side after that – I used to love a tin of Ambrosia Cream Rice.”
The couple wed in the mid-60s at Brixton Register Office. As Ronnie’s love life took off, so too did his career. He was spotted by David Frost, then one of TV’s most influential figures, who paired him up with Ronnie Barker and John Cleese for The Frost Report.
Their classic “Class sketch” in 1966 was a game-changer for Ronnie.
But a personal tragedy hit the comedian around the same time – the death of his baby son Andrew.
“We had our first baby when I wasn’t married. Sadly he was born with the heart on the wrong side. We got married before we lost him,” says Anne.
“After losing Andrew, thank God we had each other.” The next year, in 1967, their daughter Emma was born, and Sophie followed a year later.
Anne says that after Andrew’s death, she was very protective of her girls, and stepped back from her career to devote her life to them and to supporting Ronnie.
The Two Ronnies’ big break came in 1970 when a technical glitch at the BAFTAs led to the pals being called up for an impromptu performance. They brought the house down.
After their hilarious ad-libbing impressed BBC bosses they got their own show. The first episode of The Two Ronnies aired in 1971.
Part of their magic was the warmth of their friendship. “They were soulmates,” says Ronnie C’s daughter Sophie. The partnership came to an end in 1987 when Ronnie Barker announced on live TV that he was quitting entertainment.
But Ronnie C carried on in comedy for many years to come. And, as the documentary explores with appearances from comedians such as David Walliams, Harry Hill and Rob Brydon, Ronnie became a mentor to those following in his footsteps.
Stand-up comic Stephen K Amos, who recalls Ronnie going to see him perform, says: “End of the show he goes, ‘That was really great’.
“You go, ‘ah, gold star for me’. He’s still funny and wants to help other people. That’s the mark of a fine man.” Comedy legend Ronnie died in 2016, surrounded by his family.
“My mum and dad knew three months before they told Emma and I that he had motor neurone disease,” says Sophie. “The day they told us... it was like being hit by a truck.
“When you lose somebody that is part of your world and that you love wholeheartedly, it’s really hard.”
Anne adds: “He said, ‘I’ve lived my dream’. Lovely children who adored him, grandchildren who adored him and a wife who adored him. You can’t ask much more in life, can you?”
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The Two Ronnies: Ronnie Corbett’s Lost Tapes, ITV today at 9pm.
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