John Savage

Blond and baby-faced, John Savage made a name for himself as a sensitive, vulnerable screen presence during the 1970s. The Long Island-born actor studied at NYC's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, began his stage career in the 60s and by 1971 had appeared on Broadway in the long-running "Fiddler on the Roof." He would tour the USA as the ultra-shy and stuttering Billy Bibbit in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" but not before enjoying a breakthrough of sorts as a young East Coast youth who runs off to the Wild West thus evading service in the Civil War, in Robert Benton's feature directing debut, "Bad Company" (1972). After joining the anti-establishment misfits (i.e., Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland and Peter Boyle) of "Steelyard Blues" (1973), he took his first crack at the small screen, acting in the TV-movie "All the Kind Strangers" (ABC, 1974), and later played "Eric" (NBC, 1975), a terminal cancer patient fighting to the very end. He also made his debut as a series regular, portraying the cub reporter lead of the short-lived "Gibbsville" (NBC, 1976).

Savage exploded into the public's consciousness with his supporting turn in Michael Cimino's Oscar-winning Best Picture, "The Deer Hunter" (1978), playing Steven, who forces the bravado of his hometown friends, and returns from Vietnam with shattered legs. Milos Forman chose him to star as Claude Hooper Bukowski, the young man who falls in with hippies on his last day before going to Vietnam, in the big screen version of "Hair," its impact severely limited as a period piece, and he also headlined the heart-wrenching "The Onion Field" (both 1979), the true story of a cop who cracks up and flees the scene after witnessing his partner's murder. Savage continued to confirm his status in Hollywood as a rising off-beat lead and young character player with "Inside Moves" (1980), starring as a suicide survivor discovering the necessary self-esteem to live his life. After two films in 1981, "Cattle Annie and Little Britches" and "The Amateur," however, he moved to South Africa and, despite acting in some international films and TV-movies (i.e., "Nairobi Affair" CBS, 1984), remained essentially "out of sight" in Hollywood.

Savage re-emerged by delivering a nifty supporting turn as an ambitious photojournalist who paid the ultimate price for a legend-making shot in Oliver Stone's quasi-docudrama "Salvador" (1986) and also made a fine beast in a Cannon Films version of "Beauty and the Beast" (1987), opposite Rebecca DeMornay. His first association with Spike Lee, "Do the Right Thing" (1989), featured him as a bike-riding Caucasian living in a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone despite the disdain of the African-American residents, and he later parlayed his African cachet to work as assistant production manager on the South African location shooting for Lee's "Malcolm X" (1992). Barely featured and barely recognizable as Andrew Hagen, the son of the Corleone consigliari, who is a priest working in the Vatican in "The Godfather, Part III" (1990), the older but still boyish Savage determined to raise his profile in Hollywood and signed with personal manager Michael Wallach. After playing in numerous modestly budgeted films such as Daniel Adams' "Primary Motive" (1992, alongside actress daughter Jennifer Youngs), he landed a part as Jeff Bridges' second-in-command in Ridley Scott's "White Squall" (1996), but the film did not connect at the box office. In 1997, he reteamed with Adams as the titular all-time loser in boxing knockouts in the small-budget, fact-based "The Mouse," which he also produced.

Accessing his rage has brought a resurgence to the Savage career. Roles as abusive, alcoholic husbands in "Little Boy Blue" and ABC's "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Before Women Had Wings" (both 1997) gave way to his ranting sergeant in Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" (1998) and the angry brother of Kevin Costner's dead wife in Luis Mandoki's "Message in a Bottle" (1999). Over-the-top as an evil-to-the-core henchman in John Badham's "The Jack Bull" (HB0, 1999), he bridged the gap that year between the fifth and sixth seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager," playing a rogue star ship captain who earns sufficient redemption to die a hero's death in the two-part "Equinox" episode. The busy year also saw him reteam with Lee as a photographer in the director's "Summer of Sam." He stayed busy acting in the TNT remake of "The Virginian" and in USA's horror thriller "They Nest" (both 2000) before returning as a series regular in Fox's "Dark Angel," a futuristic drama (executive produced by James Cameron) set in a 21st Century of economic, political and moral collapse.

Filmography

Life Events

1970

Played small role as the boyfriend in feature "Love Is a Carousel"

1971

Appeared on Broadway in "Fiddler on the Roof"

1972

Cast by Robert Benton in Benton's feature directorial debut "Bad Company"; played one of the immature members of a post-Civil War gang led by Jeff Bridges

1973

Toured USA in production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" playing the role of Billy Bibbit

1974

Appeared in TV-movie "All the Kind Strangers" (ABC), directed by Burt Kennedy

1975

Wrote and sang the songs as star of Crown International's "The Sister-in-Law"

1975

Had title role in NBC "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation, "Eric"; also wrote the song "Loving Somebody"

1976

Was cub reporter lead in short-lived NBC series "Gibbsville"

1977

Appeared on Broadway as Bobby in David Mamet's "American Buffalo", co-starring future brother-in-law Robert Duvall

1978

Had key featured role as the buddy who returns from Vietnam with shattered legs in "The Deer Hunter"

1979

Starred as Claude Hooper Bukowski in the underrated film musical "Hair"

1979

Portrayed policeman who survived partner Ted Danson's shooting in "The Onion Field", adapted by Joseph Wambaugh from his novel

1980

Starred as young suicide survivor in "Inside Moves"

1981

Seen as Amanda Plummer's love interest Bittercreek Newcomb in "Cattle Annie and Little Britches"

1984

Co-starred with Charleton Heston (as son and father) in "Nairobi Affair", a CBS movie shot on location in Kenya

1985

First time portraying Nastassja Kinski's war-ravaged husband in Andrei Konchalovsky's "Maria's Lovers"; also initial association with producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus

1986

Played combat photographer who paid the ultimate price for snapping a legend-making shot in Oliver Stone's quasi-docudrama "Salvador"

1987

Co-starred with Duvall in feature "Hotel Colonial"

1987

Gave just the right amount of misanthropy, nobility and moody temperment to his portayal of the Beast (though his prince came across as a bit wooden) in Golan-Globus remake of "Beauty and the Beast"

1987

Portrayed Lennie in stage production of "Of Mice and Men" at NYC's Roundabout Theatre

1989

First film with Spike Lee, "Do the Right Thing"

1990

Had small role in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather, Part III"; played the son of Duvall's character

1992

Was assistant production manager for sequences of Lee's "Malcolm X" shot in South Africa

1992

Appeared with daughter Jennifer Youngs in Daniel Adams' "Primary Motive", playing a seedy reporter digging up dirt on a political candidate

1995

Acted in Sean Penn's "The Crossing Guard"

1996

Produced and starred as "The Mouse", the true story of minor legend Bruce "The Mouse" Strauss, the ring's all-time greatest loser in knockouts; directed by Adams

1996

Played vacuum cleaner salesman-serial killer in "American Strays"

1996

Co-starred as Jeff Bridges' second-in-command in "White Squall"

1997

Portrayed Ellen Barkin's abusive, alcoholic spouse who commits suicide in "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Before Women Had Wings" (ABC)

1997

Delivered a menacing turn as Kinski's boozing, war-ravaged, hot-headed husband in "Little Boy Blue"

1998

Appeared as a ranting and raging sergeant in Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line"; movie reunited him with Penn

1999

Bridged the fifth and sixth seasons of UPN's "Star Trek: Voyager," playing Captain Ransom in the two-part episode <i>Equinox</i>

1999

Delivered an over-the-top turn as Slater, the evil-to-the-core henchman of L.Q. Jones, in John Badham's "The Jack Bull" (HBO)

1999

Reteamed with Lee on "Summer of Sam", playing a photographer

2000

Had regular role on the Fox fall drama series "Dark Angel", executive produced by James Cameron

2003

Played Henry 'Hack' Scudder in the HBO series, "Carnivàle"

2005

Cast in the Terrence Malick-scripted drama "The New World"

2007

Co-starred in "Downtown: A Street Tale," a drama about homeless teenagers

Photo Collections

The Killing Kind - Movie Poster

Here is the American one-sheet movie poster for The Killing Kind (1973), directed by Curtis Harrington. One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.