Fred Covington; Film and Television Actor

Fred Covington, 65, who played a series of generally Southern characters in motion pictures and television and was seen most recently on TV as the police captain in the 1992 miniseries “Grass Roots.” His roles ranged from an auctioneer in the classic series “Roots” to a prisoner in “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” His other parts included “Coward of the County,” “Norma Rae,” “The Prize Fighter” and “They Went That-a-Way.” He also appeared in the TV series “In the Heat of the Night.” In Marietta, Ga., on Wednesday of cancer.