Marius Goring, actor; born May 23, 1912, died September 30, 1998

Marius Goring, the actor with the gentle touch who has died at the age of 86, had strong connections with Scotland. His mother, a musician, was brought up in Glasgow, and the first time he came to the city it was to be reunited with the lady who was to become his third wife, Prudence Fitzgerald.

Her grandfather had been a doctor in Glasgow, and at the time of the reunion she was directing the BBC series Dr Finlay's Casebook. When Goring was starring in the TV series The Expert - arguably the role for which he was best known - the adviser and real ''expert'' was Professor John Glaister of Glasgow University, with whom he reportedly struck up a strong friendship.

Marius Goring was born at Newport, Isle of Wight and, after attending school in Cambridge he went on to the universities of Frankfurt and Munich (where he became fluent in German) before attending the Old Vic drama school. Later he toured Germany as an actor. In the darkest days of the war, he was on a Nazi hit-list because he was making broadcasts to Germany, set up by the Foreign Office, as an antidote to William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw).

He was an actor, producer, and director who never achieved so-called ''superstar'' status, but was extremely influential in his theatrical career and had a more than respectable track record in cinema. He appeared in such film classics as A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Red Shoes (1948), Ill Met by Moonlight (1956), and I Was Monty's Double (1958). He appeared over the years with all the greats: Gielgud, Olivier, Guinness, and Mills and was no stranger to television: The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Edward and Mrs Simpson and The Expert. He was renowned for his long association with actors' union Equity, as a founder member and two-times vice-president.