Harry H. Corbett

This article is about the English actor Harry H. Corbett. For the English puppeteer, see Harry Corbett.

Harry H. Corbett OBE
Publicity photo of Corbett in the 1970s.
Born	Harry Corbett 28 February 1925(1925-02-28) Rangoon, British Burma
Died	21 March 1982(1982-03-21) (aged 57) Hastings, East Sussex, England
Nationality	British
Ethnicity	White British
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1945–82
Notable work(s)	See below
Television	Steptoe and Son
Spouse	Sheila Steafel (m. 1958–1964) «start: (1958-10-10)–end+1: (1964-09)»"Marriage: Sheila Steafel to Harry H. Corbett" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_H._Corbett) (divorced) Maureen Blott (?–1982) (his death)
Children	2

Harry H. Corbett OBE (28 February 1925 – 21 March 1982) was an English actor.

Corbett was best known for his starring role in the popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom Steptoe and Son in the 1960s and 70s. He was a serious Method actor and early in his career he was dubbed "the English Marlon Brando" by some sections of the British press.

Early life

Corbett was born in Rangoon, British Burma. His father was a British Army officer stationed in the country as part of the Colonial defence forces. Corbett was sent back to England after his mother died when he was three, and there he was raised by an aunt in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Corbett served in the Royal Marines during the Second World War, following which he trained as a radiographer, before taking up acting as a career, initially in repertory. In the early 1950s, he added the initial "H" to avoid confusion with the television entertainer Harry Corbett, known for his act with the glove-puppet Sooty. He joked that "H" stood for "hennyfink" – a Cockney pronunciation of "anything". In 1956 he appeared on stage in "The Family Reunion" at the Phoenix Theatre in London. From 1958 he began to appear regularly in films, coming to public attention as a serious, intense performer in contrast to his later reputation in sitcom. He appeared in television dramas such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (as four different characters in four different episodes between 1957 and 1960) and Police Surgeon. He also worked early with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, London.

Steptoe and Son

A chance meeting with writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who had been successful with Hancock's Half Hour, changed Corbett's life.

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.

The play was a success and a full series ran, with breaks, until 1974, when the Christmas special became the final episode. Although the popularity of Steptoe and Son made Corbett a star, it ended his serious acting as he became irreversibly associated with Steptoe (even during his appearance as a lead character in Carry On Screaming!) in the public eye. Before the series began Corbett had played Shakespeare's Richard II to great acclaim; however, when he played Hamlet in 1970 he felt both critics and audiences alike were not taking him seriously, because they could only see him as Harold Steptoe. Production was made stressful as Brambell was an alcoholic often ill-prepared for rehearsals, forgetting his lines or movements. A tour of a Steptoe and Son stage show in Australia in the late 1970s proved a disaster. Brambell drank heavily, which sometimes affected his acting. However, the two re-united in 1981 for one final performance as Steptoe and Son in a commercial for Kenco coffee.

The Curse of Steptoe, a BBC TV play about Corbett and Brambell, was broadcast on 19 March 2008 on digital BBC channel BBC Four, featuring Jason Isaacs as Corbett. The first broadcast gained the channel its highest audience figures to that date, based on overnight returns.

Other work

As well as pantomime, Corbett returned to stage plays. He played James Ryder in the 1963 British movie Ladies Who Do.

Steptoe and Son led Corbett to comedy films, 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. In 1964 he starred with Ronnie Barker in The Bargee, written by Galton and Simpson. There were two Steptoe and Son films: Steptoe and Son (1972) and Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973). He also had the leading role in two other television series, Mr. Aitch in 1967 (written especially for him) and Grundy in 1980.

After the Steptoe and Son series officially finished, he played the character again on radio (in a newly written sketch in 1979) as well as two television commercials for Ajax Soap power and one for Kenco Coffee.

He had a supporting role in the David Essex movie Silver Dream Racer in 1980 and also appeared in the controversial movie Hardcore in 1977.

Corbett also released a string of 45rpm record releases, most of which were novelty songs based upon the rag and bone character, including "Harry You Love Her" and "Junk Shop". In 1973 he also recorded an album titled Only Authorised Employees To Break Bottles which was a 'showcase of accents', with songs from Corbett in a range of accents including Liverpool, Birmingham, and Mancunian. Including the album, he released over 30 songs.

OBE

Corbett was a Labour Party campaigner, had appeared in a party political broadcast, and was a guest of Harold Wilson. Harold Steptoe had been Labour Party secretary for Shepherd's Bush West in the sixth series episode, "Tea for Two". In 1969 Harry appeared as Harold Steptoe in a Labour Party Political Broadcast, where Bob Mellish had to defend Harold Steptoe's accusation that all parties are the same. This was not in any way affiliated with Galton and Simpson who wrote Steptoe.

As Prime Minister, Wilson wished to have Corbett awarded an OBE, but the middle initial "H" was lost in the process and the award went to the Sooty puppeteer, Harry Corbett, instead. Both were eventually included the same New Year's Honours list on 1 January 1976.

Later life

A heavy smoker, Corbett had his first heart attack in 1979. He appeared in pantomime at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, within two days of leaving hospital. He was then badly hurt in a car accident. He appeared shortly afterwards in the BBC detective series Shoestring, his facial injuries obvious. Other work included a Thames Television/ITV comedy series Grundy and the film Silver Dream Racer with David Essex, both in 1980. In Grundy Corbett plays an old man discovering the permissive society after a lifetime of clean living. Corbett's final role was an episode of the Anglia Television/ITV series Tales of the Unexpected, "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 there would be no money in the vaults. Filmed shortly before his death, it was transmitted two months afterwards, in May 1982.

Personal life and death

Harry H Corbett died of a heart attack in March 1982 in Hastings, East Sussex. He was 57. He is buried in the churchyard at Penhurst, East Sussex.

Corbett married twice, first to the actress Sheila Steafel, and then to Maureen Blott, who bore him two children, one of whom, Susannah Corbett, is an actress, known for the role of Ellie Pascoe in the BBC's television adaptations of Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe detective novels.

He is commemorated in the name of the Corbett Theatre at the East 15 Acting School at Loughton, which was founded by Margaret Bury and Jean Newlove, two members of Theatre Workshop, where Corbett worked.

Filmography

• Passing Stranger (1954)
• Nowhere to Go (1958)
• The Shakedown (1959)
• Cover Girl Killer (1959)
• Floods of Fear (1959)
• Shake Hands with the Devil (1959)
• In the Wake of a Stranger (1959)
• The Shakedown (1960)
• The Unstoppable Man (1960)
• The Big Day (1960)
• Wings of Death (1961)
• Some People (1962)
• Sammy Going South (1963)
• Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)
• What a Crazy World (1963)
• Ladies Who Do (1963)
• The Bargee (1964)
• Rattle of a Simple Man (1964)
• Joey Boy (1965)
• The Sandwich Man (1966)
• Carry on Screaming! (1966)
• Crooks and Coronets (1969)
• The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971)
• Steptoe and Son (1972)
• Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973)
• Percy's Progress (1974)
• Hardcore (1977)
• Jabberwocky (1977)
• Adventures of a Private Eye (1977)
• What's Up Superdoc! (1978)
• The Plank (1979)
• Silver Dream Racer (1980)

External links

• Harry H. Corbett at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Harry H. Corbett at the Internet Movie Database

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