John Savident, who played the booming voiced Fred Elliott in British soap Coronation Street, died Wednesday. He was 86.

His agent confirmed his passing in a statement to press, saying: “We are sad to announce the death of the actor John Savident who died on Wednesday 21 February. He was a much-loved husband and father of two and will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”

Savident joined ITV soap in 1994 as a butcher with a disastrous love life. His comic timing and turn of phrase made him one of the long-running program’s most familiar faces before his character was killed off in 2006 after almost 1,000 episodes. His quirk of adding the words, “I say” in between others has been widely parodied in the UK.

The Coronation Street X account shared an image of the actor, and wrote: “Everyone at Coronation Street is deeply saddened to learn of John Savident’s death.