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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. Early in his career he was dubbed "the English Marlon Brando" by some sections of the British press. 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,... MORE

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. Early in his career he was dubbed "the English Marlon Brando" by some sections of the British press. 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 LESS