Freddie Earlle (born "Frederick Medvidoff" on 24th May 1925 in Glasgow, died 7th July 2007 in Estepona, Spain) appeared on Coronation Street in July 1993 as Bettabuy employee, Sam Owens.
He was a diminutive music hall veteran and actor/writer/director who began performing on stage as a comedian and was once partnered with his first wife Freda Mundy as "Mundy and Earl", appearing and sharing the bill with Laurel and Hardy, Frank Sinatra and Gypsy Rose Lee, among others.
When the music halls closed, he took his family to live on a kibbutz in Israel but the call of the stage was too strong and the family returned so that Freddie could return to performing. He subsequently changed his last name to "Earlle". He has three children, a son and two daughters, from his second marriage. He retired to live in Spain in 1998.
His other television credits included roles in Alfred Marks Time, Knight Errant Limited, No Hiding Place, It's a Square World, Sherlock Holmes, The Way We Live Now, Christ Recrucified, The Roads to Freedom, Clochemerle, Adam Smith, Dad's Army, Yanks Go Home, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Rob Roy, Room Service, Doom Castle, Doctor Who, Triangle, Hi-de-Hi!, Farrington of the F.O, The Bourne Identity, The Paradise Club, The Bill, The Paper Man and London's Burning.
Film roles included The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom, Moon Zero Two, The Magic Christian, Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Love Box, All I Want Is You... and You... and You..., I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight, The Ritz, It Could Happen to You, Living Doll and Bullseye!.
On stage, he appeared in productions of Only a Game, The Male of the Species, Habeas Corpus, Hotel Paradiso, Brooklyn E5 and Catch Me If You Can.
