Connor McIntyre was "convinced" he wanted to become an actor after watching former ‘Emmerdale’ star Freddie Jones in action.
The ‘Coronation Street’ actor – who plays vicious villain Pat Phelan in the ITV soap – decided to try to make it on the small screen after watching Freddie, who left his role as Sandy Thomas earlier this month, in TV anthology drama series ‘Play for Today’ in 1974.
Connor tweeted a video clip of Freddie’s appearance in episode, ‘Audience’, alongside Michael Crawford, and wrote: "Amongst his numerous stellar performances, this one convinced me to take the ‘leap’ as an actor. I remain full of gratitude. I salute you Sir (sic)"
As well as starring as Phelan in ‘Corrie’, Connor appears to be a big ‘Emmerdale’ fan and wished the 90-year-old star well in the future.
He tweeted: "Just like 2 add my fond farewell to #Sandy @Emmerdale & the incomparable #FreddieJones. (sic)"
Freddie bowed out of his role as Sandy recently, but admitted he wasn’t technically retiring because actors pass away rather than call it a day.
He said: "Actors don’t retire – they die. The story goes that Sir John Gielgud, at the age of 96, rang Maggie Smith and said in a deep depression, ‘They’ve forgotten me – they don’t know who I am any more.’
"He apparently added, ‘I’m seriously thinking about changing my agent.’ He then died, so – in some sense – he did."
Sandy left the Emmerdale village for a new life in Australia alongside Maisie, who was played by former ‘Butterflies’ star Wendy Craig.
One of his main storylines saw him become the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of his son Ashley Thomas (John Middleton).
Connor McIntyre thanks Freddie Jones for acting inspiration
