Brad Davis

4/5

Biography

Recording and mastering engineer, producer. Started his career 1969, working for A&R Studios, NYC. Moved to London in 1974 and worked on movies Serpico, Godspell, The Godfather , Holy Mountain, and others. Worked for Marcus Recording Studios, London from June 1979 until roughly mid-1982. Then he went freelance again until 2000 and did a lot of foreign work in over 100 studios around the world: Spain, Italy, France, Japan, USA mostly. Nowadays working as Emergency Services Coordinator for the city of Malibu, CA.

  • Name variations
  • Brad·Brad \Brandy\ Davis·Brad Davies·Brand Davis
  • Aliases
  • Bradford Foster Davis
  • Primary profession
  • Actor
  • Country
  • Australia
  • Nationality
  • Australian
  • Gender
  • Male
  • Birth date
  • 06 November 1949
  • Place of birth
  • Tallahassee· Florida
  • Death date
  • 1991-09-08
  • Death age
  • 42
  • Place of death
  • Los Angeles
  • Cause of death
  • Suicide; substance dependence
  • Spouses
  • Susan Bluestein
  • Education
  • Hammond High Magnet School·American Academy of Dramatic Arts·Saint Louis University
  • Knows language
  • English language·English language
  • Member of
  • Los Angeles Lakers·LSU Tigers football·Toledo Mud Hens·Fitzroy Football Club·Huddersfield Giants·Wakefield Trinity·York City Knights·Castleford Tigers·Tweed Heads Seagulls·Gold Coast Titans·United States men's national under-20 soccer team·United States men's national soccer team·Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer·Sporting Kansas City·Dallas Mavericks·Anchorage Northern Knights·Utah Jazz·Indiana Pacers·San Jose Earthquakes·Houston Dynamo·New York Red Bulls·FC Dallas

Music

Movies

TV

Books

Trivia

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1978" in John Willis Screen World, Vol. 30.

Brother of actor Gene Davis.

In 1985 Davis won critical acclaim for his portrayal of the lover of a man dying of AIDS in Larry Kramer s play "The Normal Heart". Still, his film career foundered...the only film in which he starred after this was Percy Adlon s comedy Rosalie Goes Shopping .

Davis took a professional risk by accepting the title role as a gay sailor in Querelle , Rainer Werner Fassbinder s screen adaptation of a novel by Jean Genet. Associates in the entertainment industry warned Davis that taking this part, especially after performances in other gay-themed theatrical works such as Larry Kramer s "Sissies Scrapbook" and Joe Orton s "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" , would be detrimental to his career. Nevertheless, Davis chose to work with Fassbinder on what would turn out to be the directors last film. Unfortunately, Querelle was a commercial failure and generally not well-received by critics.

Born into a southern aristocratic family, he was reportedly a direct descendant of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

Growing up, he was known as Bobby Davis (his first name was actually Robert). However, once he arrived in New York, there was already another actor named Bobby Davis, so Davis went by the name Brad Davis.

Bisexual in real life, he was deemed a gay film icon for the number of gay-themed plays and films he appeared in despite the warnings that it could damage his career.

At seventeen, after winning a music talent contest, Davis worked at Theatre Atlanta before moving to New York City.

According to an article in The New York Times published in 1987, the actors mother sexually abused him. His father was an alcoholic whose dental practice declined as a result. As an adult, Brad was both an alcohol and drug user before becoming sober in 1981.

Born in Tallahassee, Florida to Eugene Davis, a dentist, and his wife, the former Anne Creel. His brother, Gene Davis, is also an actor.

Married casting director Susan Bluestein in 1979 and had one child, Alexandra. In 1979, Davis, a former intravenous drug user, contracted HIV, by 1985 it had developed into AIDS, a condition the couple kept secret until just prior to his death by assisted suicide. Shortly after his passing she wrote the memoir "After Midnight: The Life and Death of Brad Davis" with Hilary De Vries. His widow continues to be an AIDS activist.

He was considered for the role of Kane in Alien .

Pat McNamara, Annabella Price, Ebbe Roe Smith, Priscilla Smith and he were awarded the 1982 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Ensemble for "Metamorphosis" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Co-executive producer of the production company PictureIt Films with his cousin Robert DeFreze.

Quotes

Hollywood is an industry that gives umpteen benefits and charity affairs,with proceeds going to (AIDS) research. 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. .

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