In the film, the Child Catcher was played by
ballet dancer
Sir Robert Helpmann. Whilst filming one of the scenes where the Child Catcher drives his horse and carriage out of the village, the carriage tipped over as it turned a corner with Helpmann on board.
Dick Van Dyke recalls Helpmann, with great presence of mind, swinging out of the carriage and skipping across the crashing vehicle to safety. Van Dyke later commented that he had never seen anything as graceful in his life. Helpmann was 59 years old at the time of the film's release. Helpmann's child co-stars recalled that behind the scenes, the actor loved children and was extremely kind to them, often making them laugh between takes, which made it difficult for them to pretend to be afraid of him. In the theatrical version in London's
West End, he has been played by
Richard O'Brien,
Wayne Sleep (another ballet dancer), and
Stephen Gately amongst others. On
Broadway, he was played by
Kevin Cahoon. In the Australian theatrical version, he was played by
Tyler Coppin, who also wrote and performed a solo show about
Robert Helpmann called LyreBird (Tales of Helpmann). The Child Catcher also appeared in the
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in
London during a segment dedicated to classic villains of children's literature. He appeared alongside inflatable representations of
Cruella de Vil,
Lord Voldemort,
The Queen of Hearts and
Captain Hook. He is noticeably the only villain not to be an inflatable replica, instead being performed by a dancer. == Reception and controversy ==