Ronnie Corbett’s widow Anne dies ‘peacefully and surrounded by family’ aged 90 – seven years after her comedian husband

The late Ronnie Corbett’s widow, Anne Hart, has died aged 90, seven years after her husband’s death.

Announcing the news on Monday, daughter Sophie Corbett, 55, said her mother had ‘passed away peacefully surrounded by her family’ in the early hours of Sunday morning.

In tribute, Sophie said: “We lost my dear mother at one in the morning.

‘She was a wonderful woman, and my sister Emma and I, and all four of her grandchildren, Tom, Tilly, Dylan and Billy, will love and miss her forever.

“We’re taking her to Abingdon, near Croydon, where the family lived when my father was alive.”

Update: Announcing the sad news on Monday, her daughter Sophie Corbett, 55, said Anne (pictured) ‘died peacefully surrounded by her family’ in the early hours of Sunday morning

Last photo: Anne filmed in ‘The Two Ronnies: Ronnie Corbett’s Lost Tapes’ in July 2021 (photo)

In an Instagram post, she added: ‘Yesterday we lost our beautiful mother. Here she is by my side, as she has been every day of my life. My mother was the most beautiful woman I will ever know. Our hearts are truly broken.

‘This is a time I have always feared. You, my beautiful mother, are everything I wish I could be. You are with our divine father, I know this.

‘I will miss you every second of every day. Thank you for being you and for being my mother and my biggest fan. I love you ACR Always. Your butterfly.”

The former actress was recently treated for a hip fracture at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary after a fall at the family estate, Muirfield Wood.

Anne’s career began on the West End in Where The Rainbow Ends before appearing in operas at London’s Covent Garden.

At the age of 22 she appeared with Tommy Trinder in Sunday Night At The London Palladium, and at the age of 26 she was the leading lady in the Crazy Gang’s last two London hits, Clown Jewels and Young In Heart.

She subsequently appeared in West End cabaret clubs with Danny La Rue, including Winston’s, where she met and worked with young comedian Ronnie in the late 1950s.

Good old days: Anne Hart receives full support from the Crazy Gang when she begins rehearsing with them at Victoria Palace, London, in 1959

In an Instagram post, daughter Sophie added: ‘Here she is by my side, as she has been every day of my life. My mother was the most beautiful woman I will ever know. Our hearts are truly broken.”

Stage: Anne’s career began on the West End in Where The Rainbow Ends before appearing in operas at Covent Garden (pictured in 1959 in Clown Jewels at London’s Victoria Palace)

Anne and Ronnie celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 2015.

Ronnie passed away in 2016 at the age of 85, and fans called him ‘the little man with the huge talent’.

The comedian – who was best known for his appearances opposite Ronnie Barker in The Two Ronnies in the 1970s and 1980s – was praised by friends and fellow stars for his comedic timing, his storytelling and his ability to laugh at himself.

The entertainer, who had previously recovered from two bouts of ill health, had been unwell in the months leading up to his death.

A statement from his then publicist said: ‘Ronnie Corbett CBE, one of the country’s best-loved entertainers, passed away this morning surrounded by his loving family. They have asked that their privacy be respected at this very sad time.”

In 2017, Anne spoke for the first time about her painful struggle to come to terms with the death of her husband from motor neurone disease after more than 50 years together.

“I think the full impact of the loss really hit me as I sat here, in the days after Ron died,” she told the Daily Mail, overlooking their garden.

‘Ron always loved the garden, and every spring we would sit here and watch the flowers bloom. Suddenly he wasn’t there to see them anymore, and I was doing it alone and it was such an incredibly lonely feeling.”

Their life together began with tragedy. Their first child, Andrew, was born with his heart on the wrong side of his body and with several holes in it. He lived only six weeks after the operation.

“We were both heartbroken,” Anne said. ‘I’ll never forget when we went to look at Andrew afterwards and they said, ‘We dressed him for you.’ And they put this little pair of boots on him.”

Andrew’s death was followed by the births of their daughters, Emma and Sophie, a year apart, in 1967 and 1968, and Anne’s own glittering career was halted by her desire to become a wife, mother and homemaker, while she was able to enjoy the fruits of Ronnie’s success. . She said she never regretted leaving her job.

‘We traveled all over the world and Ron always did it in style, like everything he did. First class flights, first class hotels, the best restaurants, the best food. We stayed at the Cipriani Hotel in Venice and La Mamounia in Marrakech.

‘We have always had beautiful cars. The last car Ron had was a truly beautiful Jaguar, and the day he became too ill to drive it anymore was one of the saddest I can remember,” she added.

‘The only thing I fought him with my heart and soul about was the purchase of our house on the edge of the famous Muirfield Golf Course.

Wedding: Anne and Ronnie celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 2015. The couple share two daughters, actresses Emma and Sophie Corbett (pictured in 1990)

Couple: Ronnie died in 2016 at the age of 85, and fans called him ‘the little man with the enormous talent’ (pictured together in 1978)

‘That night I kept him awake and said, ‘I don’t want a very big house in Scotland, Ron.’ And he said, “Anne, I’m playing with Lee Trevino tomorrow morning and I want to go to sleep.”

“So we finally bought it and thank God we did. We have had it for 40 years now and Emma and Sophie want to keep it. To them it means Scotland, and Scotland means Ron.’

Looking back on more than fifty years together, Anne said: ‘We loved each other very much, and I will never regret my decision to give up my career. It was worth it for the sheer pleasure, joy and happiness of sharing my life with Ron.”