Gordon Rollings

Gordon Rollings
Born Gordon Charles Rollings
(1926-04-17)17 April 1926
Batley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died 7 June 1985(1985-06-07) (aged 59)
Bristol, England
Years active 1959-1985

Gordon Charles Rollings (17 April 1926 – 7 June 1985[1]) was an English actor who mainly appeared on television, but also appeared on-stage and in feature films. He was born in Batley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1926 and started his career in radio in Israel. It was in Palestine while serving for the British Army as part of the Palestine Mandate that he was shot by a sniper of the Stern Gang. He later trained as a clown in Paris, appearing in the Medrano Circus.[2]

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 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 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.[3] In the same year he played the character of Charlie Moffitt in Coronation Street. He was a storyteller in Jackanory in 1966-67, reading among others, the story of Worzel Gummidge. (Rollings would later appear in a 1981 episode of the televised series of Worzel Gummidge). He later narrated The Herbs, and as the character Arkwright with his small dog, Tonto, in the adverts for John Smith's Bitter.

Partial filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Biography of Gordon Rollings". British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  2. ↑ "A Proper Charlie" (jpg image). TV Times. 1960s. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  3. ↑ "Play School (Episode 1)". National Media Museum. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  • "IMDb entry for Gordon Rollings". Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  • "Gordon Rollings, The Herbs, John Smiths advert". The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
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