Frederick Feast (5 October 1929 – 25 June 1999) was a British television actor, best remembered for playing the role of
Fred Gee
''Coronation Street'' is a British soap opera first broadcast on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in 1975, by order of first appearance.
Donna Parker
Donna Parker, played by Rachel Davies, made her fir ...
in ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
''.
Early life
He attended the
Scarborough High School for Boys
Graham School is a coeducational secondary school in the west of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated to the west of the town within of grounds. The school is on Woodlands Drive. The lower site on Lady Edith's Drive closed ...
,
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
,
North Riding of Yorkshire
The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres).
From the Restoration it was used as ...
, and served as a physical training instructor for the
Parachute Regiment with the rank of sergeant. He worked as a variety artist and stand-up comic at the
Windmill Theatre
The Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London, was a variety and revue theatre best known for its nude ''tableaux vivants'', which began in 1932 and lasted until its reversion to a cinema in 1964. Many prominent British comedians of t ...
and appeared in summer seasons and pantomimes. Other occupations included driving instructor, butcher, trawlerman, dolphin trainer, computer systems analyst, nightclub owner, personal shopper, publican and maître d' at a Michelin star Algarve restaurant.
Early roles
Feast acted in numerous television dramas throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, including the BAFTA winning
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
play ''Another Sunday and Sweet FA'', written by
Jack Rosenthal
Jack Morris Rosenthal (8 September 1931 – 29 May 2004) was an English playwright. He wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations. ...
.
He also had guest roles in a string of popular serials including ''
Nearest and Dearest
''Nearest and Dearest'' is a British television sitcom that ran from 1968 to 1973. A total of 45 episodes were made, 18 in monochrome (black & white) and 27 in colour. The series, produced by ITV Granada, Granada Television for the ITV (TV netw ...
'', ''Country Matters'', ''
South Riding'' and the mining drama ''
Sam'' (1973), where he played the character Chopper for two episodes. He appeared in the
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...
directed wartime series ''
Days of Hope
''Days of Hope'' is a BBC television drama serial produced in 1975. The series dealt with the lives of a working-class family from the turmoils of the First World War in 1916 to the General Strike in 1926. It was written by Jim Allen, produced ...
'' (1975), written by
Jim Allen. He also appeared in ''
Crown Court
The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...
''.
''Coronation Street''
Feast was best known for his role as the
Rovers Return
The Rovers Return Inn is a fictional pub in the long-running British soap opera '' Coronation Street''.
The Rovers Return occupies a corner of the fictional Coronation Street and Rosamund Street set location in the show. The pub was built by ...
's potman
Fred Gee
''Coronation Street'' is a British soap opera first broadcast on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in 1975, by order of first appearance.
Donna Parker
Donna Parker, played by Rachel Davies, made her fir ...
in the soap opera ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
'', a role he played from 1975 to 1984.
In 1983, Feast took time off sick at a moment's notice, causing the ''Coronation Street'' script writers to have to re-draft 12 episodes (then the equivalent of six weeks of programmes). He claimed to be depressed, had trouble remembering his lines, and suffered from bouts of uncontrollable weeping. Producer
Bill Podmore
Edgar William Podmore (15 August 1931 – 22 January 1994) was a British television producer. Born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, he is best remembered for his long association with the soap opera ''Coronation Street'', a series he produced fo ...
later said that if he had come to him and explained this in the first place, his role could have been temporarily reduced; appearing as a barman in the Rovers, the focal point of ''Coronation Street'', means that an actor tends to be in more scenes than other characters. Podmore described Feast as "earthy", and Fred Gee as being a toned-down screen version of Fred Feast.
When Feast next took time off, it was permanent. On the show, Fred Gee had gone from being an unlikable loser to an outright buffoon, getting the sack from Rovers landlord
Billy Walker (
Kenneth Farrington
Kenneth William Farrington (born 18 April 1936) is a retired English actor. He first came to fame playing the role of Billy Walker, wayward son of publican Annie, in ITV's long-running soap opera, '' Coronation Street''. Following a brief perio ...
) after punching him in the face, unable to see that Walker had goaded him into it so he could sack him without having to pay him any redundancy. Business deals behind the back of London textile magnate
Mike Baldwin (
Johnny Briggs) also backfired. Feast refused to sign a new contract, stating in the British national press that he didn't want to become "another ''Coronation Street'' cabbage", which some took as a tasteless reference to cast members
Peter Dudley
Peter Dudley (21 June 1935 – 20 October 1983) was an English character actor best known for his role as Bert Tilsley in the ITV television series ''Coronation Street''; a role he played continuously from 1979 until his death in 1 ...
,
Jack Howarth and
Bernard Youens
Bernard Arthur Popley (28 December 1914 – 27 August 1984), better known by his stage name Bernard Youens, was an English character actor of stage and television, and briefly appeared in radio plays and had cameos in film. He was also a TV ...
(who played
Bert Tilsley
This is a list of characters that first appeared in '' Coronation Street'' in 1979.
Bert Tilsley
Herbert Harrison "Bert" Tilsley (though referred to as “Albert Tilsley” in the episode of 21 September 1981) was played by Peter Dudley. He ...
,
Albert Tatlock
Albert Tatlock is a fictional character on the British television soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Albert was played by actor Jack Howarth from 1960 to 1984. The character became something of a cultural institution, so much that grumpy old ...
and
Stan Ogden
Stanley Josiah Ogden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Bernard Youens. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 29 June 1964 and remained for twenty years until his death on 21 ...
respectively), all of whom had recently died.
Fred Gee last appeared in the soap in November 1984. His departure went unremarked upon, and his position at the Rovers was taken by
Jack Duckworth
John "Jack" Duckworth is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Bill Tarmey. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 28 November 1979. Jack was introduced by executive pr ...
(
William Tarmey).
When the character's wife
Eunice
Eunice is a feminine given name, from the Greek Εὐνίκη, ''Euníkē'', from "eu", good, and "níkē", victory. Eunice is also a relatively rare last name, found in Nigeria and the Southeastern United States, chiefly Louisiana and Georgia.
Pe ...
(
Meg Johnson) made a brief return to the show in 1999, she mentioned that Fred had died of a heart attack in the interim.
Later roles
After leaving ''Coronation Street'', Feast went on to play
knacker
A knacker (), knackerman or knacker man is a person who removes and clears animal carcasses (dead, dying, injured) from private farms or public highways and renders the collected carcasses into by-products such as fats, tallow (yellow grea ...
man Jeff Mallock in a three-year stint in the
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
series ''
All Creatures Great and Small'', taking over from Frank Birch.
Dogged by ill health for most of the 1990s, he made a short-lived comeback starting in 1996 when
Liz Dawn asked him to play the bartender in her video ''Liz Dawn's House Party.'' An appearance on the regional celebrity Yorkshire TV quiz show ''
Cryer's Crackers'' followed, as did a guest role in ''
Heartbeat'' in 1998. The same year he took on the small role of pigeon fancier Arthur in the hit film ''
Little Voice'', set in Scarborough and starring
Brenda Blethyn,
Jane Horrocks
Barbara Jane Horrocks (born 18 January 1964) is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous''. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in th ...
,
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...
,
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...
and
Jim Broadbent. Feast also appeared in pantomimes, and on television chat shows during his two-year return in the public eye.
Death
Feast died of abdominal cancer on 25 June 1999, aged 69. This was less than six months after his character, Fred Gee, had been officially proclaimed as having died (offscreen) on ''Coronation Street'', though the character had not been seen onscreen for almost 15 years.
Filmography
References
External links
*
Fred Feast at Corrie.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feast, Fred
1929 births
1999 deaths
English male soap opera actors
Actors from Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Deaths from cancer in England
20th-century English male actors
People educated at Scarborough High School for Boys