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John Savident (born 21 January 1938) is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006.

Early life and career

Savident is a former police officer. During this time he acted with an amateur company, Prestwich Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society (PADOS) of which he was also chair. He made his television début in 1968, and appeared in many dramatic roles, becoming a familiar face as a result of parts in films such as A Clockwork Orange, Waterloo, Mountains of the Moon, Battle Of Britain (sharing a scene with Laurence Olivier), Brain Donors, and The Wicked Lady as well as television series including The Avengers, 1990,Yes Minister, Jeeves and Wooster, Budgie, Blake's 7, Private Schulz, the Doctor Who serial "The Visitation", Middlemarch and as Plumb in The Professionals episode "Servant of Two Masters" and "The Saint". His stage roles include being a member of the original London cast of The Phantom of the Opera.

However, it was only during the 1990s when he joined the cast of Coronation Street as the bellicose but romantic butcher Fred Elliott that he became a household name. He made his first appearance on the show in 1994 and his character quickly became popular with viewers due to his comedy value.

On 1 December 2000, Savident was stabbed in the neck by Michael Smith who claimed he was acting in self-defence. Savident said at the time "I suddenly felt somebody come up behind me and whizz me round so I was face down on the bed and then I felt a prick on my throat".^[1] Savident had met Smith in a gay bar. They then went to Savident's home apparently to discuss the theatre and watch Glasgow Celtic videos, which Smith claimed was a metaphor for risky sex. The next week on Coronation Street the large sticking plaster on his character's neck was explained as a "butchering accident"^{[citation needed]}.

In December 2005, Savident announced that he was to leave the Coronation Street citing (undisclosed) "personal reasons" for his decision. His character died of a heart attack nine months later. He later revealed that he had retired from the show "because he wanted to spend more time with his family in Hertfordshire". [1]

Since leaving, he has been critical of the way the series is produced in a number of articles and television interviews, claiming that the programme is amongst other things "on too frequently" and "badly lit".

He was one of the readers on the BBC's online Advent Calendar in December 2006.

Savident starred in the 2006 pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as the henchman at Manchester Opera House, appearing alongside Suranne Jones, Justin Moorhouse, and the all-star seven dwarves including Warwick Davis.

In 2007 he was touring as the lead in a production of Hobson's Choice.

He appeared on Loose Women on 19 March 2009 to discuss his part as Sir Joseph Porter in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore, which toured the United Kingdom during the spring and summer of 2009.

Notes

1. ^ BBC News Story on Attack

External links

• John Savident at the Internet Movie Database