John Savident (born January 21, 1938, Guernsey, Channel Islands) is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006.
Before becoming an actor in the early 1960s, John Savident used to be a policeman in Manchester.
(December 2000) Sustained knife injuries to his neck following an attack at his Manchester flat by a 28-year-old male whom he had befriended in a pub. He was meant to play a big part as Fred Elliott in the live Coronation Street show, as a result he could not take part. The script had to be vastly rewritten and rehearsed in time for the live show date.
John played the role of co-owner of the Paris Opera Company's "Monsieur Firmin" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" starring Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman.
John Savident played the part of The King in an unbroadcast pilot episode of The Black Adder in 1982. It was later remade as 'Born To Be King' in the original broadcast series in 1983.
Prior to his extensive stint on North of England soap "Coronation Street" (1960) as a strongly Lancashire accented and very loud butcher, Savident invariably played his roles with a cultured upper class accent.
