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
Harley Granville-Barker well with the Edwardian audience. They found his plays to be incomprehensible. According to "The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance", his style was more similar to the styles of Chekhov by putting the "action under the surface". Although his audience may not have understood him, this did not stop Granville-Barker from discussing important issues in society. In 1907 Granville-Barker's play "Waste" was banned due to the topic of abortion and its politics. In 1909, three volumes of his plays, "The Voysey Inheritance", "Waste", and "The Marrying of Ann Leete", were published in a limited edition of 50 copies printed