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

Biography

He was born in

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

, in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1926 and started his career in radio in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. 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 (; , sometimes abbreviated "LHI"), officially the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel () and often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemies as the Stern Gang." Blumberg, Arnold. ' ...

. He later trained as a clown in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, mo ...

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 and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...

'' 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 in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

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

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' was a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in Reading (activity), reading. The programme was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the ...

'', 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 ...

'', 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 West Yorkshire Actors from Batley 20th-century English male actors BBC television presenters English terrorism victims British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency