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| Also Known As: | Robert Davis | Died: | September 8, 1991 |
| Born: | November 6, 1949 | Cause of Death: | assisted suicide (Davis had been suffering from complications from AIDS) |
| Birth Place: | Tallahassee, Florida, USA | Profession: | actor |
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Versatile male lead who made a compelling film debut as an American drug-smuggler incarcerated in a Turkish prison in Alan Parker's "Midnight Express" (1978). Davis's relatively sparse screen roles include off-beat gems such as American Olympic runner Jackson Scholz in "Chariots of Fire" (1981); the title character--a gay sailor--in Fassbinder's "Querelle" (1982); and the eccentric pilot in Percy Adlon's "Rosalie Goes Shopping" (1989). A risk-taking stage actor, Davis won acclaim as Ned Weeks, alter ego of playwright and Gay Men's Health Crisis founder Larry Kramer, in Kramer's harrowing AIDS drama "The Normal Heart" (1985). He also starred in Steven Berkoff's avant-garde adaptation of Kafka's "Metamorphosis" at the Mark Taper Forum. Davis, who had been suffering with complications from AIDS, reportedly committed suicide at age 41.
Versatile male lead who made a compelling film debut as an American drug-smuggler incarcerated in a Turkish prison in Alan Parker's "Midnight Express" (1978). Davis's relatively sparse screen roles include off-beat gems such as American Olympic runner Jackson Scholz in "Chariots of Fire" (1981); the title character--a gay sailor--in Fassbinder's "Querelle" (1982); and the eccentric pilot in Percy Adlon's "Rosalie Goes Shopping" (1989). A risk-taking stage actor, Davis won acclaim as Ned Weeks, alter ego of playwright and Gay Men's Health Crisis founder Larry Kramer, in Kramer's harrowing AIDS drama "The Normal Heart" (1985). He also starred in Steven Berkoff's avant-garde adaptation of Kafka's "Metamorphosis" at the Mark Taper Forum. Davis, who had been suffering with complications from AIDS, reportedly committed suicide at age 41.
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CAST: (feature film)
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Notes
"It does not detract from Davis' talent to note that the roles he played had an odd resonance in his life. Nevertheless the impresssion he gave was of a thoughtful, generous person, without the edge his drug experience or his illness might have given him.
He seemed to specialize in playing brooding hotheads--such a role in an early '70s play called "Naomi Court" brought him to Hollywood's attention. But Davis himself had a vulnerability, a solicitude for the concerns of the playwright and director not typical of actors."--Howard Kissel in an appreciation of Davis's career (NEW YORK POST, September 12, 1991)
"I make my money in an industry that professes to care very much about he fight against AIDS--that gives umpteen benefits and charity affairs with proceeds going to research and care. But in actual fact, if an actor is even rumored to have HIV he gets no support on an individual basis. He does not work."--Brad Davis (excerpted from a proposal for a book he planned to write on his experience of living with AIDS for six years; quoted in LOS ANGELES TIMES, September 11, 1991)
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