- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRobert Creel Davis
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Born in Florida in 1949, Brad Davis moved to Georgia after graduating from high school to pursue an acting career. From there, he moved to New York City, twice, to find work. By the early 1970s Davis was acting in off-Broadway plays while studying acting at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. His stage work led to his movie debut and to television shows such as the hit Sybil (1976) and the mini-series Roots (1977). His biggest success was in 1978 with the lead role in Midnight Express (1978) where he played Billy Hayes, a young American imprisoned in Turkey for drug smuggling. It won him a Golden Globe award.
Another memorable movie role in 1982 was playing the title character of Querelle (1982), a ruggedly lethal sailor who seduces and sets both men and women's hearts aflutter.
The bisexual actor, who also had a one-time addiction to cocaine, contracted AIDS in 1979. In response to the anti-AIDS hysteria in Hollywood, Davis kept his illness a secret and continued to act. His later years had him finally revealing that he had AIDS by the late 1980s and he became an AIDS activist in bashing the Hollywood industry and US government for ignoring and shunning victims suffering from AIDS. Brad Davis died in 1991 at age 41. His widow, Susan Bluestein, continues his activist work in the fight against AIDS.
- IMDb mini biography by: matt-282
- SpouseSusan Bluestein(December 29, 1976 - September 8, 1991) (his death, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsDr Eugene Moor Davis Jr.Annie Elizabeth Creel Davis
- RelativesGene Davis(Sibling)
- Married casting director Susan Bluestein in 1979 and had one child, Alex Blue Davis. 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.
- 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.
- According to an article in The New York Times published in 1987, the actor's 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.
- 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 (1989).
- Born into a southern aristocratic family, he was reportedly a direct descendant of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
- 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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