Legendary British TV comedian Ronnie Corbett dies at age 85

Ronnie Corbett, the bespectacled British comedian best known as the small half of the hit television double act The Two Ronnies, has died surrounded by his family, his publicist said on Thursday. He was 85.

Born in Edinburgh in 1930, the baker’s son decided early on that he wanted to be an actor, and moved to London to begin a career on stage and small screen in the early 1950s.

At just over 5 feet 1 inch tall, Corbett initially played characters younger than his real age, and he joked about his size throughout his career with self-deprecating humour.

During the 1960s he appeared in cabarets at Winston’s, Danny La Rue’s nightclub in the exclusive Mayfair district of London, and it was there that he was spotted by TV host David Frost who asked him to appear in The Frost Report.

The satirical sketch show was Corbett’s big breakthrough, introducing him to Ronnie Barker, with whom he formed the legendary comedy double act The Two Ronnies which firmly established Corbett as a household name.

Broadcast on the BBC from 1971 to 1987, it drew audiences of up to 17 million viewers at its peak.