Matt Fielding is a principal character on Melrose Place, portrayed by Doug Savant.
Character[]
Matt is a kind, empathetic guy who lives at Melrose Place and makes a living in social work. Matt eventually becomes a doctor. He easily forms friendships with the other tenants and his co-workers.
Story[]
Matt helps out a woman at his job named Katya Petrova whom Matt marries in order to help her remain in the United States with her young daughter, Nikki. Katya later visits her home country on personal business, and Matt cares for her daughter while she is away. Matt eventually sends Nikki to join her mother in Russia as Katya decides to stay.
Matt sometimes played a detective-like role among his circle of friends. When he suspects that the strange marriage between his friends Michael and Sydney is headed for a violent end, he tracks them down on vacation along with police, only to discover that Michael hasn't gone through with the nuptials. When Matt realises that the returned Kimberly Shaw, who'd been presumed dead, is harboring secrets, he takes it upon himself to uncover them. At one point, one of Matt's boyfriends turns out a murderer as he kills someone and attempts to frame Matt for it. But Matt's persistence in proving his innocence, however, sees the man later admitting the truth to police following a confrontation.
Matt was the victim of homophobia, including being fired twice for being gay (once by Calvin Hobbs, but he won it back after Tom Riley sued the hospital), gay-bashed twice (once by the order of Kimberly, which drew the ire of Detective John Rawlings) and arguing with his parents. Matt took custody of his niece, Chelsea, following the death of his brother. Eventually, he moved with her to San Francisco. Matt later died in a car accident while coming to visit his friends. His memories of them, however, were shared via a diary.
Trivia[]
- The show struggled to get FOX to approve any storylines that saw Matt kissing/having sex with his love interests. One kiss in the Season 2 finale was cut by the network, even though it was filmed and part of the episode. In addition, Matt wasn't allowed the same presence on the show as the straight main characters, often getting tag-along storylines, and was the principal character most absent from episodes throughout the 5 seasons the character was on the show.
- Gratuitously, Matt was killed off a year after the character departed the show, an early and especially egregious example of Bury Your Gays.
- Most of his storylines revolved around his sexuality, rather than who he was as a person.
Photos[]
