Ronald William George Barker, OBE (September 25, 1929 to October 3, 2005), popularly known as Ronnie Barker, Norman Stanley
"Fletch" Fletcher and (as writer) Gerald Wiley. His best known appearances were alongside his longterm comedy partner,
Ronnie Corbett, in the hugely popular TV show "The Two Ronnies". He also found great success as Norman Stanley "Fletch" Fletcher in the sitcom Porridge and won a BAFTA
for his role in the sequel "Going Straight". As well as Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker also worked famously well with David Jason in Open All Hours (and several episodes of Porridge).
He had everything as an entertainer, his love for and playful manipulation of the English language fuelled his prolific writing adopting the pseudonym of Gerald Wiley for the Two Ronnies.
His gift for comedy made him one of Britain's best loved performers. He made generations of British people laugh and his work is marvelled at by present day comedians.
News of his death was headline news all over the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Ronnie Corbett said that throughout
their many years working together there was never a cross word between them. He said that Barker was
"pure gold in triplicate; as a comedian, writer and friend".
Starting Out
Barker was born in Bedford in Bedfordshire. He had two sisters with whom he moved, aged four, to Oxford
when his father, working for Shell Oil, was relocated.
His gift for writing soon took hold and he invented plays for his family and neighbours.
He attended Oxford High School leaving at 16 to work as a bank clerk but his passion fro theatre
remained. Barker joined the Playhouse Theatre, which was at the time under the actor management
of Frank Shelley. The two appeared together, in Ben Travers's A Cuckoo in the Nest.
Barker dedicated his 1993 autobiography to Shelley, whom he called one of the "three wise men who directed my career;
without men like these, there would be no theatre."
His first radio appearance was in 1956; he went on to play a variety of minor characters
in The Navy Lark, a navy based sitcom on the BBC Light Programme.
Barker later returned to radio in the BBC Radio 4 sketch show Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead.
He also appeared in the films "Father Came Too" and "The Bargee". It was though on television, where his
contribution had the greatest impact, he wrote and performed in many satirical sketches in The Frost Report, including a series of trios
which he performed with Ronnie Corbett and John Cleese.
The Two Ronnies
But it was his hugely popular BBC television comedy sketch show partnership with Ronnie Corbett, The Two Ronnies,
(1971 to 1987) for which he is best remembered.
The show saw both Barker and Corbett performing various comedy sketches and musical numbers (often in drag) and was much loved
by the British public.
Some sketches ran into mini series of their own such as the "Phantom Raspberry Blower" and "The Worm that Turned".
Porridge
Ronnie Barker starred in Porridge as Fletcher, the series ran for three series,
two Christmas specials and a film in 1979. Barker privately regarded the series
as the finest work of his career. Barker won his first BAFTA for the sequel "Going Straight"
which came at a time when he was grieving for the early death of his co-star Richard Beckinsale (pictured above right).
Barker tearfully paid tribute to Beckinsale in his brief acceptance speech.
David Jason appeared in several episodes of Porridge and they later co-starred as Arkwright
and Granville,in the sitcom Open All Hours, written by Roy Clarke.
Encore
Barker made rare TV appearances following his 1988 retirement, most notably as
Winston Churchill's butler a "straight" role, in the BBC drama The Gathering Storm in 2002.
This was followed up by a role in the film My House in Umbria in 2003.
In 2004 he was given his second BAFTA, a special award acknowledging his contribution to British Comedy.
He was reunited on screen with Ronnie Corbett in 2005 to record The Two Ronnies Sketchbook, a clip show
of their sketches along with newly recorded introductions.
On Wednesday 6th July 2005, he recorded -The Two Ronnies Christmas Sketchbook,
this was to be his last television appearance.
It was shown at Christmas 2005, two months after his death. His work lives on!
