Former West End musical star Anne Hart, the widow of comedian Ronnie Corbett, has died at the age of 90, her family has announced.
Hart, who was married to Corbett for 50 years, died “peacefully, surrounded by her family” in the early hours of Sunday, November 5 at the family home in Scotland.
Her younger daughter, actress Sophie Corbett, who lives in Norman Road, Hove, said: “We lost my darling mum at one o’clock in the morning. She was an amazing woman, and my sister Emma and I, and all four of her grandchildren, Tom, Tilly, Dylan and Billy, will love and miss her for ever.
“We will be bringing her home to Abingdon, near Croydon, which is where the family lived when my dad was alive.”
Actress and singer Hart was recently treated for a hip fracture in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh following a fall at the family estate Muirfield Wood in East Lothian.
Born on April 26, 1933, at St Thomas’ hospital in Lambeth, Hart was the third of six children.
Hart made her West End debut as a child in the Christmas show Where The Rainbow Ends, and also performed in child roles in operas at Covent Garden.
She found fame on stage in her 20s as the leading lady in Clown Jewels and Young In Heart with comedy troupe The Crazy Gang.
It was during the late 1950s, while working in the late-night revues at Danny La Rue’s club at Hanover Square, that she met her future husband, the then up-and-coming comedian Ronnie Corbett.
Corbett was “totally bowled over by her”.
But he remained a “cautious suitor”, worried that his height – five feet one and a half inches – might put off Hart who was five feet eight inches tall.
Finally, after six years, he plucked up the courage to ask her out for a drink and an omelette at the Buckstone Club.
Corbett called Hart “the cornerstone” of his success.
“What luck,” he said. “To have won the love of such a wonderful wife as Anne.”
Corbett died aged 85 in 2016, having been diagnosed with a suspected form of motor neurone disease.
Born Ronald Balfour Corbett in Edinburgh, he and Ronnie Barker rose to fame in the popular BBC comedy sketch show The Two Ronnies.
The show, which pulled in up to 22 million viewers and was famous for its four candles sketch, ran for 16 years on the BBC.
Hart, who was previously married to John Padley, a singer in The Four Jones Boys group, married Corbett at Brixton registry office and that night played a show at Danny La Rue’s club in Hanover Square.
Their first child, Andrew, was born with a heart defect and he lived only six weeks.
The couple went on to have two daughters and four grandchildren.
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