Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

John Savage, actor, made his debut in the 1978 Oscar-winning Best Picture film, The Deer Hunter, which gained him international attention for his work. In1979 he had leads in two more big pictures, Milos Forman's musical Hair and Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field followed by Richard Donner's Inside Moves and The Amateur for which he was nominated for Best Actor-Foreign. He then co-starred in Maria's Lovers with Nastassja Kinsk and Robert Mitchum. He landed several TV series regular roles and movies  his first being "Jim Malloy" on NBC's "Gibbsville". During the late 80s through mid 90s, Savage threw his star power behind the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa working alongside Nelson Mandela.As a result he worked as the assistant production manager on Spike Lee's film Malcolm X. Savage previously worked with Lee as co-producer and one of the stars of Do the Right Thing, and later showed up again in Lee's Summer of Sam (1999) as well as his Showtime TV movie Sucker Free City. Since his return back to LA,