Gordon Rollings
{{Short description|British actor (1926–1985)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gordon Rollings
| image = Actor_Gordon_Rollings.jpg
| caption = In Carry on Doctor
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1926|4|17}}
| birth_place = Batley, England
| birth_name = Gordon Charles Rollings
| death_date = {{death date and age|1985|6|7|1926|4|17|df=y}}
| death_place = Bristol, England
| occupation = Actor
| yearsactive = 1949–1985
| spouse =
}}
Gordon Charles Rollings (17 April 1926 – 7 June 1985){{Cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/88586|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122055707/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/88586|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 January 2009|title=Biography of Gordon Rollings|accessdate=30 December 2007|work=British Film Institute}} 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, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1926 and started his career in radio in Palestine. It was in Palestine while serving in the British Army during the 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.{{Cite web|url=http://theherbs.homestead.com/GordonRollings/Clown.JPG|title=A Proper Charlie|accessdate=30 December 2007|year=1960s|work=TV Times|format=jpg image}}
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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Television/tvh_detail.asp?tvhid=14133&search=&genre=1|title=Play School (Episode 1)|accessdate=30 December 2007|work=National Media Museum}} {{Dead link|date=November 2010|bot=H3llBot}} In the same year he played the character of Charlie Moffitt in Coronation Street. Between 1966 and 1967 Rollings appeared as a storyteller in ten episodes of the BBC children's television show Jackanory, reading amongst others, stories 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.
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | A Weekend with Lulu | Humper | Uncredited |
| 1961 | What a Whopper | Constable Doone | |
| 1962 | Captain Clegg | Wurzel | |
| 1963 | Edgar Wallace Mysteries | Walker | Episode: 'Five to One (film)' |
| 1963 | Just for Fun | Party Official with radio | |
| 1964 | The Comedy Man | Skippy | |
| 1964 | A Hard Day's Night | Man with sandwich in pub | Uncredited |
| 1966 | Press for Time | Bus conductor | |
| 1967 | Carry On Doctor | Night Porter | |
| 1968 | Great Catherine | Glaizer | |
| 1969 | The Bed-Sitting Room | Drip feed patient | (as Gordon Rawlings) |
| 1969 | Rhubarb | Artist Rhubarb | |
| 1972 | Something to Hide | 2nd Man at Airport | |
| 1976 | The Pink Panther Strikes Again | Inmate | |
| 1977 | Jabberwocky | King's taster | (as Gordon Rawlings) |
| 1980 | Superman II | Fisherman | |
| 1983 | Superman III | Man in cap | (as Gordon Rawlings) |
| 1983 | Fanny Hill | Beggar | |
| 1983 | The Sign of Four | Mr. Sherman | |
| 1984 | Bloodbath at the House of Death | Man at bar | |
| 1984 | Give My Regards to Broad Street | Monster |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0712606/|title=IMDb entry for Gordon Rollings|website=IMDb |accessdate=30 December 2007}}
- {{Cite web|url=http://theherbs.homestead.com/GordonRollings.html|title=Gordon Rollings, The Herbs, John Smiths advert|accessdate=30 December 2007|work=The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rollings, Gordon}}
Category:Deaths from cancer in England
Category:English male film actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:English male voice actors
Category:Male actors from West Yorkshire
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:BBC television presenters
Category:English terrorism victims
Category:British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency