John Savident Obituary, Death – A brilliant, colorful, sometimes wide, but always memorable actor, John Savident has away at the age of 86. He was known for playing one of the most beloved soap opera characters on television, the pompous but lovable butcher Fred Elliott in the ITV series Coronation Street, for more than a decade. Coronation Street is located in the United Kingdom. Fred, who made his debut in 1994 and went on to become a regular two years later, quickly became a fan favorite among viewers.
This was in part due to the fact that Savident gave him a vocal tic that was easily recognizable and enjoyable to imitate. He would say, “Ashley, I say, Ashley,” when he was speaking to his young nephew, who was later revealed to be his son, Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold). A combination of the Looney Tunes cartoon rooster Foghorn Leghorn, loud men whose voices he had heard booming across northern pubs, and factory workers in Lancashire mills who would communicate in bellows and were forced to repeat themselves because of the din from the looms were the sources of inspiration for Savident’s delivery, according to Savident.
In addition to playing a wide range of roles and making use of all of the numerous comic techniques that Savident had at his disposal, Fred was the ideal Coronation Street player. He was completely honest beneath the surface of the character’s portrayal. With his towering frame and a rumbling voice that could be heard from the back of the stalls even at a whisper, Savident was able to get the show’s unique northern comedy just right with his great comic timing. He also possessed the theatrical talents necessary to carry off Fred’s emotional and often vulnerable sequences with a heartfelt and gently stated sadness.
This was a very important aspect of his performance. The only child of John, a fisherman, and Karoline (née Pfrinder), his Swiss wife, Savident was born in St. Peter Port, Guernsey. Savident was the only son of his parents. After evading capture by the Germans on the island in 1940, the family eventually made their home in Ashton-Under-Lyne, which is located in Greater Manchester. As a cadet in the Manchester Police Department, he joined the service in 1955 after completing his education at the grammar school that is now known as Ashton Sixth Form College.
After serving for a number of years as a patrolman on the east side of the city, he was transferred to service with the vice squad. When Savident’s local Prestwich Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society’s performance of South Pacific was being directed by a visiting director, he made a joke about asking to audition for his next show. Savident had been performing in amateur dramatics since he was a boy. To his astonishment, this led to the possibility of making his professional debut in the Hanley Christmas pantomime, Robin Hood (1961), in which he played the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham alongside Max Wall.
Savident was cautious about accepting the offer, but he decided to take the plunge anyway, figuring that he could always go back to policing if it did not work out. He was recently promoted to the position of accident prevention officer in Manchester’s C Division, and he had recently married Rona (nee Hopkinson), a teacher who later became a theater director. He had met Rona when they played husband and wife as amateurs in Rochdale, and they had married earlier that year.
He was never need to do so because he quickly became a member of the Lincoln Repertory Theatre, and two years later, he was performing the role of O’Dwyer in Trelawny of the Wells at the National Theatre in London. His later roles at the National Theatre earned him a lot of praise, including a drily manipulative Archbishop of Rheims in Saint Joan (directed by Ronald Eyre), an ebullient comic turn as the foolish duped husband Nicia in Machiavelli’s Mandragola, and a powerfully savvy Cominius to Ian McKellen’s Coriolanus (all in 1984). All of these roles were part of his career at the National Theatre.
Moreover, he played the role of Monsieur Richard Firmin, a humorously off-color character, in the inaugural production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, which was staged at Her Majesty’s theater in 1986. He subsequently returned with the original cast for the final performance of the film adaptation of the play, which was titled The Phantom of the Opera at the Albert Hall (2011). In 1966, when he first appeared on television, he chose not to play regular roles in an effort to avoid being typecast. Instead, he focused on appearing in a wide variety of guest roles across all genres. on spite of this, he had a tendency to specialize on sardonic establishment types, dictatorial ministers, and vile toffs. He was able to effortlessly cultivate the air of haughty disdain and the undercurrent of testiness that was demanded by these characters.
