John Savage (actor)

John Smeallie Youngs (born August 25, 1949),<ref name=screenworld/> known professionally as John Savage, is an American actor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He first rose to prominence in the late 1970s for his portrayals of troubled-but-sensitive characters in films like The Deer Hunter (1978), The Onion Field (1979) and Hair (1979). His television roles include Donald Lydecker on Dark Angel (2000–2002)<ref name="NYT2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Hack Scudder on Carnivàle (2003–2005).

Early life

John Smeallie Youngs was born in Old Bethpage on Long Island, New York on August 25, 1949,<ref>Wagner, Amy (November 3, 2009). "It Happened on Long Island – 1949: John Savage Is Born". Newsday. p. B11. Retrieved June 20, 2025. "Actor John Savage was born John Youngs in Old Bethpage on August 25, 1949, where he was raised. [...] The brother of media personality Robin Young and of actor Jim Youngs, he is the father of actress and singer Jennifer Youngs."</ref> to Muriel Vanderveer (née Smeallie) and Floyd-Jones Youngs Jr.<ref>"Death Notices". Newsday. January 5, 2006. p. A57. Retrieved June 20, 2025. "YOUNGS- Muriel Vanderveer Smeallie died in Manhasset, NY on December 28, 2005 at 81. Also known as Jhan Smeallie, Muriel was born in Amsterdam, New York in 1924, to John Vanderveer Smeallie and Madge Robie Smeallie. [...] She is survived and will always be missed by her children, John Smeallie Youngs (the actor John Savage), Robin Caldwell Youngs, Gail MacLachlan Youngs Dwyer, and James Vanderveer Youngs. She and her husband Floyd-Jones Youngs were founding residents of the Long Island town of Old Bethpage."</ref><ref>"The Balance Wheel: Marriages". Newsday. September 17, 1948. p. 78. Retrieved June 20, 2025. "YOUNGS-SMEALLIE -Jones Ycungs Jr., 24, Adelphi College, Garden City, and Muriel Smeallie, 24, Forest Hills."</ref> Savage's younger siblings, Gail (b. 1952)<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> and Jim Youngs (b. 1956),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> are also actors. His younger sister, Robin Young, is a Peabody Award-winning journalist and news broadcaster.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Savage worked for the Manhattan's Children's Theatre Group.

Career

Savage has appeared in more than 200 feature films, short films, recurring roles in television series and guest appearances in episodes of television series. One of Savage's first notable roles is as Claude Hooper Bukowski in the 1979 film Hair.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His first major film role was as Steven Pushkov in the multiple Oscar-winning 1978 film The Deer Hunter.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He also had a lead role in the 1979 film The Onion Field.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:John Savage - Sofia, Bulgaria.jpg

Savage discussing Hair at Sofia International Film Festival, March 2017

In the late 1970s, he performed in the Broadway production of David Mamet's play American Buffalo.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1991, he starred in Italian director Lucio Fulci's final film Door to Silence.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He then had a brief role in the 1998 war film The Thin Red Line,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> portrayed Captain Ransom in the two part episode "Equinox" of the television series Star Trek: Voyager in 1999,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and appeared in the recurring role of Donald Lydecker in the first and second seasons of the 2000 television series Dark Angel.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Savage appeared in the recurring role of Henry Scudder in the HBO television series Carnivàle between 2003 and 2005.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He appeared in unrelated roles in two of the series in the Law & Order franchise: the 2004 Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Conscience" as a man who put his wife in a permanent coma, and the 2005 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Quarry" as a child molester on death row for murdering one of his victims.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Savage appeared in the 2015 horror film Tales of Halloween,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the 2017 film In Dubious Battle,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and on the 2017 continuation of the television show Twin Peaks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2017, Savage spoke at a tribute honoring director Richard Donner, held by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2018, he appeared on the television show Goliath.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the same year, Savage lent his voice to a monologue on the title track of the album This Town by Steve Smith of Dirty Vegas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Savage has two children with his first wife, Susan (divorced 1969), including actress Jennifer Youngs (b. 1969). He was married to South African actress Sandi Schultz between 1993 and 2002.<ref name=":1" />

During the 1980s and 1990s, Savage was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa, and became acquainted with Nelson Mandela. He helped secure Mandela's involvement in the 1992 film Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee, on which he was the assistant production manager for the South Africa unit.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref>

Savage's former brother-in-law was actor Robert Duvall, who was married to his sister Gail Youngs, from 1982 to 1986.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	The Master Beater	Rocco
1971	Love is a Carousel	Boy Friend
1972	Bad Company	Loney
1973	Steelyard Blues	Kid
	The Killing Kind	Terry Lambert
1974	The Sister in Law	Robert Strong
1975	Eric	Eric Swensen
1978	The Deer Hunter	Corporal Steven Pushkov
1979	Hair	Claude Hooper Bukowski
	The Onion Field	Det. Karl Francis Hettinger
1980	Inside Moves	Roary
1981	Cattle Annie and Little Britches	Bittercreek Newcomb
	The Amateur	Charles Heller
1983	Brady's Escape	J.W. Brady
1984	Maria's Lovers	Ivan Bibic
1986	Vengeance of a Soldier	Frank Morgan
	Salvador	John Cassady
	The Little Sister	Tim Donovan
1987	Hotel Colonial	Marco Venieri
	Beauty and the Beast	Beast / Prince
	Caribe	Jeff Richardson
1988	The Beat	Frank Ellsworth
1989	Point of View	Amnon Yehoshua
	Do the Right Thing	Clifton
1990	Any Man's Death	Leon Abrahams
	Voice in the Dark	Dan Montgomery
	The Godfather Part III	Father Andrew Hagen
	Ottobre rosa all'Arbat	Boris
1991	Dark Tale	Roy Kramer
	Hunting	Michael Bergman
	Mountain of Diamonds	Blaine
	Buck ai confini del cielo	Wintrop
	Notti di paura	Paola
1992	Door to Silence	Melvin Dovereux
	Primary Motive	Wallace Roberts
1993	Berlin '39	Wieland
	CIA II: Target Alexa	Frank Kluge
1994	Killing Obsession	Albert
	Red Scorpion 2	Andrew Kendrick
	Deadly Weapon	Sanders
1995	The Dangerous	Emile Lautrec
	Carnosaur 2	Jack Reed
	The Crossing Guard	Bobby
	The Takeover	Greg
	Fatal Choice	Drury
	White Squall	McCrea
	One Good Turn	Santapietro
	Where Truth Lies	Dr. Ian Lazarre
	American Strays	Dwayne
	Flynn	Joe Stromberg
	Firestorm	Brinkman
1997	The Mouse	Bruce Strauss
	Little Boy Blue	Ray West
	Amnesia	Tim Bishop
	Hollywood Safari	Deputy Rogers
	Hostile Intent	Bear
	Et hjørne af Paradis	Padre Louis
	Managua	Dennis
	Ultimo taglio	Leo Kimball
1998	Club Vampire	Zero
	The Thin Red Line	Sgt. Jack McCron
1999	Frontline	Captain Wolfgang Mueller
	Message in a Bottle	Johnny Land
	Summer of Sam	Simon
2000	Christina's House	James Tarling
	They Nest	Jack Wald
2001	Dead Man's Run	Carver
	Burning Down the House	Jake Seiling
2002	Redemption of the Ghost	Sheriff Rollie Burns
	The Anarchist Cookbook	Johnny Red
2003	Intoxicating	William Shanley
	Easy Sex	Frank Iverson
2004	Fallacy	Heathcliff
	Admissions	Harry Brighton
	Downtown: A Street Tale	H2O
2005	Iowa	Irv Huffman
	Confessions of a Pit Fighter	McGee
	The New World	Thomas Savage
2006	Kill Your Darlings	Rock
	The Drop	Mr. Zero
	Shut Up and Shoot!	Marty Pearlheimer
2007	Shortcut to Happiness	Johnny	uncredited
	The Attic	Graham Callan
2008	The Grift	William Bender
	From a Place of Darkness	Vic
	Boiler Maker	JJ
	The Coverup	Thomas Thacker
	The Golden Boys	Web Saunders
	The Violent Kind	George Malloy
2009	Anytown	News Producer
	Wild About Harry	Horace White
	Handsome Harry	Peter Rheems
	Qi chuan xu xu	Frank Dreibelbis
	Buffalo Bushido	Vendetti
	Remembering Nigel	Himself
	The Red Canvas	Harbin Rask
2010	Dreamkiller	Agent Barnes
	Bereavement	Ted
	A Small Town Called Descent	Father Scully
	Bed & Breakfast	Mr. Harvey
2011	Colombian Interviews	James
	The Last Gamble	John
	Nichirin no isan	Douglas MacArthur
	The Orphan Killer	Detective Walker
	Hit List	Walter Murphy
	Assassins' Code	Arlo
2012	The Jonas Project	Calvin Kabral
	The Black Dove	Jake Williams
	Sins Expiation	Father Karl
	Money Fight	Harbin Rask
	Open Road	Carl
2013	Real Gangsters	Ted Roberts
	Gemini Rising	Manning
	Awakened	Jack Winston
	A Star for Rose	Mort
	7E	Paul
	Discarded	Jay
2014	Bullet	Governor Johnson
	Fort Bliss	Mike Swann
	See How They Run	The Codger
	The Lookalike	William Spinks
	Cry of the Butterfly	William Berman
	The Big Fat Stone	Robert Tanninger
2015	The Sparrows: Nesting	Marvin
	We Will Be the World Champions	William Jones
	Tales of Halloween	Capt. J.G. Zimmerman	segment "Bad Seed"
	Beverly Hills Christmas	Mr. Winters
2016	Last Call at Murray's	Bennett
	Texas Heart	Carl
	In Dubious Battle	Dan
	American Romance	Emery Reed
	Dead South	Stokes
2017	Nephilim	Father Samuel	voice role
	The Return	Covek u crnom odelu
	The Neighborhood	Vito Bello
	Spreading Darkness	Brett
	Fake News	President Wayne Walker
	Going Vertical	Henry "Hank" Iba
2018	Betrayed	Mayor Alderman
	Easy Way Out	Martin
	Followed	Wallace Fleischer
2019	Sensory Perception	President of United Earth
	Gates of Darkness	Joseph
	Hold On	Dr. Siedhoff
	The Islands	Henry Thornton
	The Last Full Measure	Kepper
	Down's Revenge	Dr. Sorkin
	Heavenly Deposit	Donald
	Spinning Dry	Frank Manghetti
2020	A Medicine for the Mind	Dr. Ernest Brown	short film
2021	Torch	August Lewin
	Lockdown	The Narrator
	Insight	Frank
	The Dog of Christmas	Ron
2022	The Right to Bear Arms	Brutal Magnus
2023	Showdown at the Grand	Lucky

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	All the Kind Strangers	Peter	Television film
1975	Gibbsville	Jim Malloy	Television film
1982	Coming Out of the Ice	Victor Herman	Television film
1984	Nairobi Affair	Rick Cahill	Television film
1985	Silent Witness	Kevin Dunne	Television film
1993	Daybreak	President	Television film
1994	Tales from the Crypt	Benny	Season 6 Episode 5 "Revenge is the Nuts"
1995	Tom Clancy's Op Center	Bob Herbert, National Intelligence Officer	Television film
	The X-Files	Henry Trondheim	Season 2 Episode 19 "Død Kalm"
	The Outer Limits	Lucas	Season 1 Episode 12 "The Conversion"
1996	Walker, Texas Ranger	Sergeant Major Bart Hawkins	Season 4 Episode 2 "Patriot"
1997	Before Women Had Wings	Billy Jackson	Television film
1998	Lost Souls	Victor Robinson	Television film
1999	The Jack Bull	Slater	Television film
	Star Trek: Voyager	Captain Rudy Ransom	Two-part episode "Equinox"
2000	The Virginian	Steve	Television film
	Dark Angel	Donald Lydecker	Main cast season 1, recurring season 2
2003	Carnivàle	Henry "Hack" Scudder	Recurring role
2004	Law and Order: Criminal Intent	Mark Farrell
	Alien Lockdown	Dr. Alan Woodman	Television Film
	Sucker Free City	Anderson Wade	Television Film
2005	Love's Long Journey	Trent	Television Film
2009	Fringe	Andre Hughes	Season 2 Episode 2 "Night of Desirable Objects"
2013	Defending Santa	Judge Willis	Television Film
	Cleaners	Marcus Walker	Recurring season 2
2014	Bermuda Tentacles	President DeSteno	Television Film
2017	Teen Star Academy	Burt	Television Film
	Twin Peaks	Detective Clark
	Empire of the Sharks	Ian Fein	Television Film
2018	40 and Single	Stewart Temple
	Mission Possible	Captain Ted Napoleon	Television Film
	Goliath	Mickey	Recurring season 2
	Torque	Agent Curtis
	6 Children & 1 Grandfather	David McDoll	Television Film
2019	Ovid and the Art of Love	Augustus	Television Film

Awards

Throughout his career, Savage received numerous award nominations and wins across film festivals and ceremonies with recognition for best performance, best supporting actor, and genre-specific achievements.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble in The Thin Red Line, shared among cast members (1999)
• Bronze Wrangler for The Virginian, shared among cast members (2001)
• AOF/WAB Award for Best Supporting Actor – Feature in Money Fight (2008)
• Claw Award for Best Supporting Actor in From a Place of Darkness (2009)
• Houston Film Society – Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor for The Black Dove (2012)
• Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast in Last Call at Murray's, shared among cast members (2016)
• Sofia Award for outstanding achievements in world cinema (2017)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• IIFC Award for Best Ensemble in Last Call at Murray's, shared among cast members (2017)
• July Award for Best Actor in Betrayed (2018)
• Leading Actor – Best Lead Actor in Betrayed (2018)

External links

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