Ronnie Barker Ronnie Barker Ronald William George Barker, (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as "Porridge", "The Two Ronnies", and "Open All Hours". Barker began acting in repertory theatre and decided he was best suited to comic roles. He had his first success at the Oxford Playhouse and in roles in the West End including Tom Stoppard's "The Real Inspector Hound". During this period, he was in the cast of BBC radio and television comedies such as "The Navy Lark". He got his
Ronnie Barker 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 put-upon Able Seaman 'Fatso' Johnson and Lieutenant-Commander Stanton in "The Navy Lark", a navy based sitcom on the BBC Light Programme, which ran from 1959-77, with Barker featuring in some 300 episodes. He also featured in the show's radio spin-off "The TV Lark", in which his character, Fatso, was now a camera operator after the main characters were drummed out of the service, and as a trainee chef in "Crowther's Crowd" in 1963,