Eric Longworth (20 July 1918 – 20 August 2008) was an English actor, best known for his semi-regular part in the popular BBC comedy Dad's Army as Mr. Gordon, the town clerk of Walmington-on-Sea. Eric Groves Longworth was born in Shaw and Crompton, Lancashire. He had decided from an early age to become an actor, but had his hopes dashed when his father died and he had to help support the family. He was 17 at the time. Up to his call-up in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II, which included a spell in Bombay, he had joined the Crompton Stage Society, a local amateur company, playing character parts to stall his ambitions.