Barker was born Ronald William George Barker on 25 September 1929 in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England to Leonard and Edith Barker. His father was a clerk for Shell Oil. He had two sisters; one older, Vera and one younger, Eileen. The family moved to Cowley, Oxfordshire when Barker was four.

As a child, Barker enjoyed dressing up, and developed a love of the theatre, often attending plays with his family. The first play he saw was Cottage to Let and he once skipped school in order to see Laurence Olivier in Henry V; he frequently stood outside the stage-door to collect autographs, his first being the actress Celia Johnson. Barker attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys. He found his talent for humour at school and developed his musical ability by singing in the choir at St James church. He got in to the sixth form a year early but felt what he was learning would be of no use to him in later life and so left as soon as he could. After leaving school he trained as an architect but gave it up after six months, as he felt he was not skilled enough. Barker took his sister Vera's job as a bank clerk at the Westminster Bank (after she had left to become a nurse). Barker harboured dreams of becoming an actor. He worked in amateur dramatics for eighteen months while at the bank, as an actor and stage manager, making his first appearance in A Murder Has Been Arranged as the musical director of the play-within-a-play. Eventually he gave up his job to become a professional actor. His father was not supportive of his acting ambition.

Theatrical career

Barker failed to get into the Young Vic School, but joined the Manchester Repertory Company, which was based in Aylesbury, often taking comic roles in their weekly shows. Initially he was employed as the assistant to the assistant stage manager, earning £2.10 a week. He made his debut as a professional actor on November 15, 1948 as Lieutenant Spicer in a performance of J. M. Barrie's Quality Street. He went on to play the organist in When We Are Married and by his third role, the chauffeur Charles in Miranda, Barker realised he wanted to be a comic actor. He was described as "ha[ving] the talent to be a great straight actor", but noted: "I want to make people laugh. Never mind about Hamlet. Forget Richard the Second. Give me Charley's Aunt. My mission in life was now crystal clear." He appeared in stages adaptations of Treasure Island and Red Riding Hood before getting his first leading role in The Guinea Pig as a working class boy at a public school. When the production moved to Rhyl, Barker followed. The Manchester Repertory Company closed, as did the Rhyl company shortly after. Barker, aged 20, then spent some time as a porter at Wingfield Hospital; he became distressed through his contact with polio patients and so opted to take on the persona of "Charlie" so as not to be himself. He and a male nurse often entertained the patients with comedy routines. He found work at the Mime Theatre Company, performing mimed folk music and dance, which soon folded in Penzance. He made his way back to Oxford and then worked in Bramhall for The Famous Players.

He joined the Oxford Playhouse in 1951 and worked there for three years, appearing in plays such as He Who Gets Slapped as the clown. Peter Hall worked with Barker at Oxford and gave him his break, casting him as the Chantyman and Joe Silva in his production of Mourning Becomes Electra at the Arts Theatre in London's West End in 1955. By the time he had made it to the West End, Barker had appeared in an estimated 350 plays. Barker remained a West End actor for several years, appearing in numerous plays between 1955 and 1968. These included, in 1955, two performances each night as he played a gypsy in Listen to the Wind at the Arts Theatre and then a peasant in Summertime later in the evening. Other roles included Mr Thwaites in Double Image in 1956 (with Olivier), Camino Real (directed by Hall) in 1957, French gangster Robertoles-Diams in Irma La Douce for two years from 1958, Lord Slingsby-Craddock in Mr Whatnot in 1964 and Birdboot in The Real Inspector Hound in 1968. He also appeared in several Royal Court Theatre productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream as Quince.

Early media career

Barker's theatrical success enabled him to move in to radio work. Barker, who had previously been known by his birth name "Ronald", was now referred to as the shortened form "Ronnie", after a director changed it in the credits, although he did not tell Barker. His first radio appearance was in 1956, playing Lord Russett in Floggit's. He went on to play multiple characters, but primarily the lookout Able Seaman Johnson and Lieutenant-Commander Stanton, in The Navy Lark, a navy based sitcom on the BBC Light Programme, which ran from 1959 to 1977, with Barker featuring in some 300 episodes. He also featured in the show's radio spin-off The TV Lark as Fatso Johnson, a camera operator, and as a trainee chef in Crowther's Crowd in 1963, and had roles on Variety Playhouse. Barker soon began working in film and television. He appeared in various roles in the comedy series The Seven Faces of Jim from 1962, alongside Jimmy Edwards and June Whitfield, as well as parts in Bold as Brass and Foreign Affairs (as the Russian ambassador Grischa Petrovitch). This was followed with dramatic parts in A Tale of Two Cities as Jerry Cruncher in 1965 as well as single episode roles in The Saint and The Avengers, in which he played Cheshire, as a cat lover. He also appeared in films such as Doctor in Distress (1963), Father Came Too! (1963) and A Home of Your Own (1965).

In 1966, Barker got his break with the satirical sketch series The Frost Report, having been recommended for the show by producer James Gilbert. The show starred David Frost, John Cleese and Barker's future comedy partner Ronnie Corbett, whom he had met in 1963 when Corbett was the barman at the Buckstone Club near Haymarket Theatre, and the two became friends. Corbett stated in his autobiography that the two had gravitated towards each other because of their similar backgrounds; neither had attended university, while many of the other Frost Report cast and writers had. Each episode of the show, which was performed and broadcast live, was focused on a single topic and principally revolved around a continuous monologue from Frost, with sketches from Barker, Corbett and Cleese as the show went on. Barker starred alongside Cleese and Corbett in The Frost Report's most well known sketch, which satirised the British class system, with Barker representing the middle class.After the first series, the special Frost Over England was produced, winning the Golden Rose at the Montreux Television Festival. With a second series of the show announced, Frost, recognising their potential, signed both Barker and Corbett up to his production company David Paradine Productions. As part of the deal Barker was given his own show in 1968, The Ronnie Barker Playhouse, which comprised six separate, thirty minute plays. Barker starred in each piece as a different character. After two series of The Frost Report on the BBC, totalling 26 half-hour episodes, Frost moved to ITV after helping to set up London Weekend Television. There, Frost hosted Frost on Sunday, with Barker and Corbett following and again performing sketches on the programme. Barker began writing sketches for the programme under the pseudonym Gerald Wiley. Barker and Corbett had a greater role on the show than on The Frost Report and Corbett felt "more aware of what [they] were doing."

Barker began using the pseudonym Gerald Wiley when writing sketches because he wished the pieces to be accepted on merit and not just because he, as a star of the programme, had written them; he continued this tradition with the material he wrote later in his career. Barker brought his sketches in, claiming they had come from Wiley through Barker's agent Peter Eade, and they were very well received. In order to maintain the deception, Barker had criticised material he himself had submitted under the pseudonym; when a Wiley-credited sketch about a ventriloquist had been poorly received by the audience Barker told Corbett "Well, Gerald Wiley let us down there", and on another occasion, when looking at a script, "I don't understand this line. What's he getting at?" One of the first sketches he wrote was called "Doctor's Waiting Room", with the main part written for Corbett. Barker encouraged Corbett to buy the rights to the sketch and, further maintaining the myth, told him to reject Wiley's 'request' for £3,000 as too expensive, before giving Corbett the sketch for free. Speculation began about Wiley's identity, with Tom Stoppard, Frank Muir, Alan Bennett and Noël Coward all rumoured. After the second series of Frost on Sunday, the cast and crew were invited to a Chinese restaurant, while Wiley said that he would reveal himself. Barker, who had told Corbett earlier in the day, stood up and announced he was Wiley, although initially nobody believed him.

In 1969 Barker was able produce the film Futtocks End which featured no dialogue and only "grumble[s] and grunt[s]"; Barker played General Futtock in the film and also wrote it. Playhouse had been designed to find a successful idea for a sitcom, and the episode "Ah, There You Are" by Alun Owen, which introduced the bumbling aristocratic character Lord Rustless, was chosen. The character returned for the 1969-1970 series Hark at Barker as the main character; Barker wrote for the show under the name Jonathan Cobbald. As Wiley he wrote the 1971 series Six Dates with Barker. Despite Barker's success on ITV, LWT's programme controller Stella Richman opted to fire Frost's company Paradine and as Barker was contracted to the company rather than the network, he lost his job, as did Corbett.

Move to the BBC and The Two Ronnies

Soon after, Barker, Corbett and Josephine Tewson performed a sketch about Henry VIII at the 1971 BAFTAs, with Barker playing Henry. The two also had to keep the audience entertained for eight or so minutes as the show was stopped because of technical difficulties. Their performance at the award show impressed the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton and Controller of BBC One Paul Fox, who were sitting in the audience. Not knowing they were both essentially unemployed, although still contracted to Paradine, Cotton signed the duo up for their own show together, and a series each on their own; he later joked he "must have offered them too much money." Barker and Corbett wished to avoid being remembered primarily as a duo, and felt they could not work in the same way as a conventional double act like Morecambe and Wise, and so each maintained their solo careers as well. They each were given a one-off variety special; Barker's, called The Ronnie Barker Yearbook, featured a sketch for each month of the year, although due to time constraints the first two had to be cut. Barker also reprised his character Lord Rustless in the sitcom His Lordship Entertains in 1972. Barker wrote all seven episodes, again with the pseudonym Jonathan Cobbald.

Their show together was The Two Ronnies, a sketch show which aired for twelve series between 1971 and 1987, to immediate success. The show, as described by Anthony Hayward of The Independent, was "a cocktail of comedy sketches, playlets, songs and parodies, a long-winded Corbett monologue and a singing star, sandwiched between the opening and closing news summaries." The usual format consisted of many sketches between the two, an ongoing filmed serial, a solo sketch from Barker, Corbett's monologue, a musical number, a special guest, bookended by joke news items, delivered from a desk by the two in the style of newsreaders, before ending with the catchphrase "It's good night from me - and it's good night from him." This was a set format which was used for almost the entirety of the show's run. The end catchphrase and newsreader characters were devised because Barker found it difficult to appear as himself: Corbett explained that Barker "was a very private man, a quiet man...He found it almost impossible to talk directly, as himself, to an audience." Each also had their own solo segments to help ensure they were not totally associated as a double act.

Barker wrote much of the show's material, roughly three-quarters, again under the name Gerald Wiley. Filming took place over four months of each year. Barker was heavily involved with the show's production, especially the serial. Corbett explained that Barker was a "perfectionist" and "as he wrote it Ronnie knew how he wanted every shot to look." After filming the show all day, he spent the evenings helping technician Jim Franklin edit it. While filming on location Barker and Corbett would look through all of the potential material for the studio recording of the rest of the show's content and decide on the running order. He and Corbett always got on, with Barker noting "People refuse to believe that we don't have rows, tensions, private wars. It's a strange thing after so many years but we never have. Actually, it's even more amicable than a marriage - wedlock without the bad patches. Our sense of humour and perception of what's good and what's rubbish are uncommonly in tune." They took turns to play the parts which had the "good lines". One of the show's other writers, Barry Cryer, said: "You could write almost anything knowing these two would do it brilliantly. Because they weren't a double act; they were two men who worked together and had their own careers."

Barker's material included the sketch which came to be known as "Four Candles", airing in 1976, although in the original script it was entitled "Annie Finkhouse". It sees a customer (Barker) ask for a series of things in a hardware store. The sketch's humour derives from similarities in word pronunciation, leading to confusion on the part of the store owner (Corbett). It is considered the show's most famous sketch and was voted as the show's best in a TV special, while also placing fifth on Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches. The original script, hand-written by Barker, was sold for £48,500 at auction in 2007 after being featured on an episode of Antiques Roadshow the previous year.

The show was considered a "national institution" with audiences of between 15 and 20 million regularly tuning in to its 98 episodes. Many Christmas specials were made, while in 1987 they toured Australia with The Two Ronnies In Australia. Barker and Corbett also starred in The Picnic (1975) and By the Sea (1982).

Porridge, Open All Hours and other work

Following the success of The Two Ronnies, the BBC let Barker decide what he wanted to do. He opted to produce some sitcom pilots shown as part of 1973's Seven of One. Two of these pilots, Open All Hours (written by Roy Clarke) and Prisoner and Escort (written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais) became series. Prisoner and Escort became Porridge, airing from 1974—1977, with Barker starring as the cynical and cunning prisoner Norman Stanley Fletcher. The first sitcom to take place in a prison, The Times said the show "was about what it took to survive in prison, the little day-to-day triumphs over the system that kept the prisoners sane." The show became a huge success, attracting 15 million viewers and earning what the BBC described as "a chorus of critical acclaim and public adoration for what remains one of the most classic British sitcoms ever produced." The Times called Fletcher his "finest creation". Barker privately regarded the series as the finest work of his career.

In 1976, Barker played Friar Tuck in the film Robin and Marian, directed by Richard Lester. The same year, determined not to be remembered only as Fletcher, Barker opted to end Porridge after two series and instead focused on the second pilot Open All Hours, alongside David Jason. Barker starred as Arkwright, a money-grabbing, stuttering shopkeeper. It aired one series in 1976 on BBC Two but was not renewed due to low ratings. As a result, Barker backtracked on his earlier decision and produced a third series of Porridge, as well as a film adaptation. It was followed by the spin-off sitcom Going Straight which focused on Fletcher after his release from prison. While not as popular as Porridge it did win BAFTAs. Plans to further the show were ended when Barker's co-star Richard Beckinsale died of a heart attack in 1979 aged 31. With repeats of Open All Hours earning high ratings on BBC One, the BBC commissioned a further series of the show in 1981, with another two made as well as the show continued its ratings success. Both shows placed in the top ten of the 2004 poll to determine Britain's Best Sitcom; Porridge finished seventh and Open All Hours eighth.

Barker's next sitcom, The Magnificent Evans, which was about a Welsh photographer and aired in 1984, was not successful. His final sitcom, Clarence in which he played Clarence Sale, a removal man with failing sight, aired in 1988. Barker wrote the show himself, again using a pseudonym, this time as "Bob Ferris".

Barker won the BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times: in 1971 and 1977 for The Two Ronnies, in 1975 for Porridge and in 1978 for Going Straight. He also won the Variety Club of Great Britain Award in 1969, 1974 and 1980, the Radio Industry Club Award in 1973, 1974, 1977 and 1981. He won the Royal Television Society's award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in 1975.

Retirement and reappearances

In 1988, following the broadcast of Clarence and after rejecting Hall's offer of the part of Falstaff in a Royal National Theatre production of Henry IV, Barker decided to retire from show business aged 58, "at the height of his fame", citing a decline in his own writing quality, lack of ambition and ideas and to go out on top so as not to damage his legacy. He made his decision public on an appearance on the chat show Wogan. Retired, Barker opened and ran an antiques shop in Dean, near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire. He joked: "I lose money every week, but it's a hobby. It's cheaper than skiing and safer at my age." He resisted all calls to come out of retirement from then onwards. He wrote his autobiography, Dancing in the Moonlight: My Early Years on Stage in 1993 and released All I Ever Wrote, his complete scripts, in 1999. He wrote the play Mum for his daughter Charlotte Barker in 1998, which was performed at The King's Head Theatre, but garnered a negative response, with Barker stating it got "the worst notices of any play in the history of the theatre."

Just over a decade after retiring, Barker was persuaded to make occasional appearances on TV again. In 1997 he appeared with Corbett at the Royal Variety Performance and in 1999, he reunited with Corbett for Two Ronnies Night on BBC One, and the following year for A Tribute to the Two Ronnies. In 2002, he appeared as Winston Churchill's butler in the BBC drama The Gathering Storm and then played the General in the TV film My House in Umbria in 2003, alongside Maggie Smith. In the same year, he briefly reprised his role as Norman Stanley Fletcher in the spoof documentary Life Beyond the Box. In 2004 he was given a special BAFTA lifetime achievement award at a televised celebratory evening.

The Two Ronnies Sketchbook, a clip show of their sketches along with newly recorded introductions, was recorded and aired in 2005. The project was, when announced, met with "some derision among the professional critics", but after the first episode drew eight million viewers, they had to "eat their words". The final special, and Barker's final appearance on TV - The Two Ronnies Christmas Sketchbook, was recorded in July 2005 as a result of Barker's failing health and aired in December that year, after his death.

Barker met Joy Tubb in Cambridge while she was a stage manager for two plays he was in. They married nine months later in July 1957 and they had three children: two sons, Larry (b. 1959) and Adam (b. 1968) and one daughter, Charlotte (b. 1962), who became an actress. He received an OBE in 1978. The family lived on Church Lane in Pinner for many years. Barker collected over 40,000 "saucy" vintage postcards and produced several compilation books of them including Ronnie Barker's Book of Bathing Beauties, A Pennyworth of Art and Sauce. Barker rarely appeared in public, and when he did it was almost always in character. He noted "I've always known I haven't a personality of my own, I have to be someone else to be happy. That's why I became an actor, I suppose."

Barker died of heart failure at the Katherine House hospice in Adderbury, Oxfordshire (where he had been for two days) on 3 October 2005, aged 76, with his wife by his side. Barker was deeply mourned in the UK and news of his death made top billing on the television news headlines and many newspaper front pages. The Sun, for example, featured a front page of just the headline "It's Goodnight From Him" and an image of Barker's glasses.

Barker was cremated at a private humanist funeral at Banbury Crematorium, near Dean, attended only by family and close friends. A public memorial service for Barker was held on 3 March 2006 at Westminster Abbey, with some 2,000 people in attendance. Corbett, Richard Briers, Josephine Tewson, Michael Grade and Peter Kay all read at the service, while others in attendance included David Jason, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, Leslie Phillips, Lenny Henry, Dawn French and June Whitfield. A recording of Barker's rhyming slang sermon from The Two Ronnies was also played. Barker was the third comedy professional to be given a memorial at Westminster Abbey, after Joyce Grenfell and Les Dawson.

Legacy

Following his death the "Writer of the Year Award" at the British Comedy Awards was renamed in his honour. He was voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders in a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian.

The BBC described him as "one of the leading figures of British television comedy", and "much loved and admired". with The Independent called him "a master of television sitcom". The Guardian said he was "much loved...Both as an actor and a writer he was recognised as a master of pyrotechnic puns, surreal behaviour in public and private places and crackling cross-chat." They concluded "it says much about the decline of the British television industry that Ronnie Barker, one of its most creative comic talents, should have turned his back on it long before he died at the age of 76." In Barker's eulogy, the Reverend Robert Wright stated he was "undoubtedly one of the very greatest television comedy actors" and "as a performer, he made comedy look effortlessly funny."

His stage play, Mum, was adapted for radio. Broadcast in 2006 on BBC Radio 4 as an Afternoon Play, adapted and directed by Neil Cargill, it starred Maxine Peake in the main role alongside Barker's old Porridge collaborator, Sam Kelly.

A bronze statue of Barker, in character as Norman Stanley Fletcher, sculpted by Martin Jennings, was unveiled in a public area at the entrance of the soon-to-be-opened Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in September 2010 by his widow Joy, David Jason and Ronnie Corbett.