LONDON (Reuters) – Rolf Harris, a mainstay of family entertainment in Britain and Australia for more than 50 years before his career collapsed into disgrace with his conviction for indecently assaulting young girls, has died, PA Media reported on Tuesday.
The Australian-born Harris, 93, had been seriously ill with neck cancer and receiving 24-hour care, local media reported late last year.
An artist and musician who first earned fame in the 1950s with the top 10 hit novelty song “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport”, Harris went on to present prime-time TV shows mostly aimed at children.
He performed with the Beatles, painted Queen Elizabeth’s portrait and presented himself as the affable inventor of the novelty musical instrument, the wobble board.
His song “Two Little Boys” spent six weeks at number one in the UK, the last chart-topper of the 1960s and the first of the 1970s. In 1993, his wobble board cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” also charted in Britain.
But as his star faded, the veteran entertainer became one of the most high-profile celebrities to be embroiled in a massive British police investigation which followed revelations the late BBC TV host Jimmy Savile had been a prolific child abuser.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Michael Holden; Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Kate Holton)
