Gordon Charles Rollings (17 April 1926 – 7 June 1985) was an English actor who mainly appeared on television, but also appeared on-stage and in feature films. He was born in

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

, in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1926 and started his career in radio in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. It was in Palestine while serving in the British Army during the Mandate that he was shot by a sniper of the

Stern Gang Lehi (; he, לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל ''Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi'', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemie ...

. He later trained as a clown in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, appearing in the Medrano Circus. Rollings made an uncredited screen appearance in the Beatles' film '' A Hard Day's Night''. He played the man in the pub who is shocked to find that Ringo has thrown a dart into his lunch. Director

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director based in the United Kingdom. He is best known for directing the Beatles' films '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964) and ''Help!'' (1965), and the superhero films ''S ...

later used him in both ''Superman'' films he directed: in the first, he plays a fisherman who is stunned to see General Zod walking on water and in the second, he appears as a pedestrian in a flat cap who upsets a display of toy penguins that triggers the slapstick chaos in the opening credits scene. After a number of small parts in TV shows such as ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

'' in the early 1960s, on 21 April 1964, he was the first presenter of BBC 2's daily programme for young children, '' Play School'', alongside Virginia Stride. In the same year he played the character of

Charlie Moffitt ''Coronation Street'' is a British soap opera, initially produced by Granada Television. Created by writer Tony Warren, ''Coronation Street'' first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters introduced in the sho ...

in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''. Between 1966 and 1967 Rollings appeared as a storyteller in ten episodes of the BBC children's television show ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' is a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the first story was the fairy-t ...

'', reading amongst others, stories of

Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd.

. (Rollings would later appear in a 1981 episode of the televised series of ''

Worzel Gummidge Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd.

)''. He later narrated ''

The Herbs ''The Herbs'' is a television series for young children made for the BBC by Graham Clutterbuck's FilmFair company. It was written by Michael Bond (creator of Paddington Bear), directed by Ivor Wood using 3D stop motion model animation and f ...

'', and as the character Arkwright with his small dog, Tonto, in the adverts for John Smith's Bitter.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rollings, Gordon 1926 births 1985 deaths Deaths from cancer in England English male film actors English male television actors English male voice actors Male actors from Yorkshire People from Batley 20th-century English male actors BBC television presenters English terrorism victims British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency