Harry H. Corbett OBE (born 28 February 1925 in Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar); died 21 March 1982 in Hastings, Sussex, England) was a distinguished English actor. He was awarded the OBE in 1976 for services to drama. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Yangôn, formerly Rangoon, population 4,504,000 (2001), is the capital of Myanmar. ... Yangon (Burmese: , population 5,000,000 (nearly) (2007 census), formerly Rangoon, is the largest city and former capital of Myanmar (previously known as Burma, prior to 1989). ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Hastings (disambiguation). ... Sussex is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ...

Corbett was best known for his starring role in the hugely popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom Steptoe and Son in the 1960s and 70s. Early in his career he was dubbed "the English Marlon Brando" by some sections of the British press, but typecasting prevented the development of his career as a film actor, much to his frustration. BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which began in 1932. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherds Bush, London. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Marlon Brando, Jr. ... For other meanings, see typecasting. ...

Early Life

He was born in Burma (now Myanmar), while it was still a British colony. His father was an officer in the British Army who was stationed in the country as part of the occupying forces there. When he was three his mother died and Corbett was sent back to England where he was raised by an aunt in Wythenshawe, Manchester. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Wythenshawe is a district in the south of the City of Manchester, in North West England. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ...

Corbett himself served in the armed forces during the Second World War — in the Royal Marines — and following his discharge after the war's conclusion he took up acting as a career, initially in repertory theatre. In the early 1950s he added the middle initial 'H' to his name in order to avoid confusion with the then-popular television entertainer Harry Corbett, who was well known for his act with the puppet Sooty. When asked, he would often joke that the 'H' stood for "h'anything" - a manner of saying the word 'anything' once found in Cockney and some other English regional dialects. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Royal Marines (RM), are the Royal Navys elite fighting forces. ... Repertory or rep, called stock in the U.S., is a term from Western theatre. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Harry Corbett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

From 1958 he began to appear regularly in film roles, first coming to public attention as a very serious, intense performer, completely in contrast to the reputation he would later gain as a sitcom actor. He also guested regularly in television dramas, appearing in episodes of popular series such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (as four different characters in four different episodes between 1957 and 1960) and Police Surgeon. Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... The Adventures of Robin Hood was a popular, long-running British television series (143 half-hour, black and white episodes, 1955 - 1960) starring Richard Greene as Robin Hood. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Steptoe and Son

A chance meeting with writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, at the time basking in the success of their groundbreaking project Hancock's Half Hour, changed Corbett's life. Ray Galton, OBE (born 1930) and Alan Simpson, OBE (born 1929) are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a Tuberculosis sanatorium in London. ... Ray Galton OBE (born 1930), and Alan Simpson OBE (born 1929), are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium in London. ... Hancocks Half Hour was a famous BBC radio comedy series of the 1950s starring Tony Hancock. ...

And so in 1962, Corbett appeared in The Offer, an episode of the BBC's anthology series of one-off comedy plays, Comedy Playhouse, written by Galton and Simpson. He played Harold Steptoe, a rag and bone man living with his irascible father Albert, played by Wilfrid Brambell, in a junkyard with only their horse for company. Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. ... Rag and bone man is a British phrase for a junk dealer. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Comedy Playhouse was an occasional BBC television anthology series of the 1960s and early 1970s, consisting of one-off plays with the potential to be turned into regular sitcoms. ... Ray Galton OBE (born 17 July 1930), and Alan Simpson OBE (born 27 November 1929), are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium in London. ... Wilfrid Brambell (March 22, 1912 - January 18, 1985) was an Irish film and television actor, born in Dublin, best known for his roles in the British television series Steptoe and Son and The Beatles film A Hard Days Night. ...

The play was a huge success and a full series was soon commissioned, which eventually ran, with some breaks, until 1974, where the Christmas special became the final ever episode. Although the enormous popularity of Steptoe and Son - as the series was titled - made Corbett a star, it proved to be a dead-end to his serious acting career, as he became irreversibly associated with the Harold Steptoe character in the public eye. Production on the series was also made stressful by Corbett's strained relationship with his co-star Brambell. Brambell was an alcoholic and would often be ill-prepared for rehearsals, forgetting his lines or blocking ^[1]. By the end of their time on the series they were not on speaking terms outside of takes. A subsequent tour of a Steptoe and Son stage show in Australia in the late 1970s proved to be a complete disaster, as any sort of working relationship between the pair of them was now impossible. On this tour Brambell also drank heavily, which sometimes affected his ability to perform ^[2]. A blonde haired, very skilled worker with a 70s look. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

Other Work

As well as doing pantomime, Corbett also returned to appearing in stage plays, something he was doing long before the days of Steptoe and Son. The pair did finally work again in 1981 in a short television commercial for a well known coffee brand. The Christmas Pantomime colour lithograph bookcover, 1890 Pantomime (informally, panto) refers to a theatrical genre, traditionally found in Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Ireland, which is usually performed around the Christmas and New Year holiday season. ...

Steptoe and Son did lead to Corbett gaining some work in comedy films, most notably starring in Carry On Screaming in 1966 and appearing in Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky (1977). He also appeared in the Lust segment of The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins. As with many other British comedy programmes of the era, there were also two theatrically-released Steptoe and Son films: Steptoe and Son (1972) and Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973). The Carry On films were a long-running series of British low-budget comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. ... Terrence Vance Gilliam (born November 22, 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, animator, and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. ... Jabberwocky (1977) is a comic medieval film by Monty Pythons resident animator, Terry Gilliam. ... The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins is a 1971 comedy film directed and produced by Graham Stark. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ...

Later Life

Corbett suffered his first heart attack in 1979 and appeared in pantomime at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley within two days of being discharged from hospital. He then suffered a serious car accident, in which he was badly hurt. He appeared shortly afterwards in the BBC detective series Shoestring, with his facial injuries sadly obvious. Other work included a BBC comedy series entitled Grundy and the film Silver Dream Racer with David Essex, both made in 1980. Corbett's final acting role was in an episode of the Anglia Television anthology drama series Tales of the Unexpected. Entitled The Mole it featured a man who planned to tunnel into a bank, only to have forgotten that the following day was Bank Holiday Monday and that there would be no money in the vaults. Shot shortly before his death, it was transmitted two months afterwards, in May 1982. He had died of a massive heart attack in the March of that year, at the age of fifty-seven, in Hastings, East Sussex. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), more commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ... Churchill Theatre in London Borough of Bromley, England opened in 1977 and seats 785. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Shoestring was a BBC television show set in Bristol. ... silver dream racer This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Tales Of The Unexpected is a British television series that originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. The series was an anthology of various different tales, initially based on short stories by author Roald Dahl that were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly humourous and usually had... The Mole is a reality television game show. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), more commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ... For other uses, see Hastings (disambiguation). ... East Sussex is a county in South East England. ...

Corbett was twice married, firstly to the actress Sheila Steafel, and then to Maureen Corbett, who bore him two children, one of whom, Susannah Corbett, is an actress, best known for the role of Ellie Pascoe in the BBC's television adaptations of Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe detective novels. Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Sheila Steafel (Born 1935-05-26, Johannesburg) is an actress who, having been born in South Africa, has lived all her adult life in Britain. ... Susannah Corbett (born 1968) is a British actress, the daughter of Steptoe and Son star Harry H. Corbett. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Reginald Hill (born in 1936 at West Hartlepool in County Durham) is a British crime writer. ... Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel (usually known as Andy) and Detective Sergeant (later Detective Inspector) Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill that became a BBC television series, also named Dalziel and Pascoe. ...

He is commemorated in the name of the Corbett Theatre at the East 15 Acting School; in his early career he had worked with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, London. East 15 is a professional acting school in Loughton, Essex. ... Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 - 20 September 2002) was a theatrical director, famous for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop. ... Theatre Workshop is a theatre group most notable for their devised pieces that included Oh, what a lovely war, and their leader, Joan Littlewood. ... The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a theatre in Stratford, London, which opened in 1884. ...

Notes

The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Harry H. Corbett at the Internet Movie Database
• Find-A-Grave profile for Harry H. Corbett

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...