Comedian Ronnie Barker, half of the famous duo The Two Ronnies and the stubborn Fletch in prison sitcom Porridge, has died aged 76, according to Reuters.

Tributes poured in for one of the country's best-loved comics from his countless devotees.

"He died peacefully and his wife was with him. He had been nursed at home for a long time", his agent, Rosalind Chatto, said yesterday.

Ronnie Corbett, his former partner in The Two Ronnies, declared: "Ronnie was pure gold in triplicate: as a performer, a writer and a friend. We worked together since 1965 and we never had a cross word. It was 40 years of harmonious joy, nothing but an absolute pleasure."

"He was very shy, a man uneasy with the fame that came with the job," television presenter Michael Parkinson said.

Ronnie Barker had his TV break when he was chosen for the supporting cast of The Frost Report in 1966. The actor announced his retirement from TV comedy acting in 1987, at the height of his success, and returned on the small screen only a few times, including a special tribute to The Two Ronnies in 1999 and the BBC drama The Gathering Storm in 2002, in which he played Churchill's butler.

The famous comedian earned numerous accolades, including three Bafta awards and an OBE in 1978.

"I can't think of anyone who knew how to play comedy better than Ronnie Barker. Ronnie was a straightforward, down-to-earth man who had this extraordinary ability to make the nation laugh, probably more often than anyone else I know", the former Monty Python star Michael Palin confessed.