Harry H. Corbett

The son of a British army officer, Harry Corbett was born in Burma and raised in Manchester. After working as a radiographer, the deceptively oafish-looking Corbett began his acting career in repertory; during this period he added the initial "H" to his billing to avoid confusion with a popular ventriloquist of the same name (when asked what the "H" stood for, his standard answer was "H'anything.") Spending several seasons with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, he made his film bow in 1957, playing brutes and lunatics before gaining TV fame in the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son. The precursor to the American series Sanford and Son, Steptoe cast Corbett as the long-suffering son of irascible junk dealer Wilfred Brambell (his role was essayed by Demond Wilson while Brambell's counterpart was Redd Foxx). Honored with the OBE in 1976, Harry H. Corbett went into virtual retirement thereafter; he died in 1982, at the age of 57.