--- name: "Brad Davis" canonical: "https://film.one/person/brad-davis" roles: ["Actor"] born: "6 November 1949" died: "8 September 1991" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 77 average_as: "actor" average_over: 4 updated: "2026-09-20T06:01:23.492152+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Brad Davis Actor. Born 6 November 1949 in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.. Died 8 September 1991. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 6 November 1949, Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. - **Died:** 8 September 1991 - **Active:** 1977–1992 - **Also known as:** Robert Creel Davis, برد دیویس - **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as actor, over 4 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1970s 72 (2), 1980s 78 (1), 1990s 85 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 75 to 70 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 1 of 1 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 4, Crime 2, Comedy 1, History 1, Mystery 1, Thriller 1 - **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $116m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Davis_(actor), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q374175, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001113/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/69010 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Midnight Express*](https://film.one/film/midnight-express.md) (61) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Brad Davis > Brad Davis played men whose charm was the first thing to go. In *Midnight Express* he lets it drain away scene by scene, and that one performance is most of what the screen has of him. The rest is glimpses. For the first stretch of *Midnight Express* (1978), Billy Hayes is a boy who thinks charm will get him out. Brad Davis plays that belief straight, without a wink to the audience, and then spends the rest of the film letting it be taken from him. He does not mark the change with one big scene. It goes a piece at a time, a smile that arrives a beat later each time it is needed, until it stops arriving. That is the performance, and it is a large part of why the film grips even when we would rather it did not. It was his first film. Davis had trained in New York and worked Off-Broadway and in television, in *Sybil* (1976) and *Roots* (1977), before Alan Parker cast him. What followed was shorter than it should have been. He played the runner Jackson Scholz in *Chariots of Fire* (1981), a supporting part he fits without strain, and the title role in *Querelle* (1982), Rainer Werner Fassbinder's last film, as a sailor whose appeal is the engine of the picture. On stage he was Ned Weeks in Larry Kramer's *The Normal Heart* (1985). After that the roles came sporadically. He died in 1991, and a cameo as himself in Robert Altman's *The Player* (1992) was among the last things he put on screen. So the case rests on one film, and it is a film we scored 61. Oliver Stone's script paints every Turk in the same dark shade and asks us to feel for Billy more than it has earned, and Davis is the one who has to carry that debt. Around him the richer parts go elsewhere: John Hurt's Max, the film's finest hour, a wreck of an Englishman who has made peace with his own ruin; Randy Quaid's Jimmy, all rage; Paolo Bonacelli's Rifki, all smiles and ledgers. Davis's job is to be the man the film happens to, which is a hard job and a thankless one, and he does it. In the later stretches we found we did not want to look at him, not because the acting had failed but because it had worked: the likeable boy of the opening was gone and Davis had not softened his going. What he had was a face that read as open and a body that read as ordinary, and the willingness to let both be wrecked. He was not often given the chance to do it again; the breakthrough did not turn into the career it promised. There is not much to see, so see it in order. *Midnight Express* first, for what is taken away. *Chariots of Fire* for a glimpse of him at ease. *Querelle* if Fassbinder is your taste and you are prepared for a film that is nothing like the other two. That is nearly the whole shelf. ## Biography Brad Davis (born Robert Creel Davis) was an American actor. He made his film debut as Billy Hayes in Alan Parker's *Midnight Express* (1978), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor and received BAFTA nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. Davis trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. His other film roles include Jackson Scholz in *Chariots of Fire* (1981) and the title character in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's *Querelle* (1982). He appeared in television productions including *Roots* (1977) and *Sybil* (1976), and originated the role of Ned Weeks in the stage play *The Normal Heart* (1985). Davis was married to casting director Susan Bluestein. He died in 1991. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, latimes.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) - *The Player* (1992), Fi1m 85, as Brad Davis — [page](https://film.one/film/the-player.md) - *Chariots of Fire* (1981), Fi1m 78, as Jackson Scholz — [page](https://film.one/film/chariots-of-fire.md) - *Midnight Express* (1978), Fi1m 61, as Billy Hayes — [page](https://film.one/film/midnight-express.md) - *Roots* (1977), Fi1m 83, as 'Old' George Johnson — [page](https://film.one/tv/roots.md) ## Complete filmography (33) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Sparks!* (2018), Thanks - *The Habitation of Dragons* (1992), as George Tolliver - *The Player* (1992), as Brad Davis — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-player.md) - *Child of Darkness, Child of Light* (1991), as Dr. Tuckner - *Hangfire* (1991), as Sheriff Ike Slayton - *The Plot to Kill Hitler* (1990), as Count Claus von Stauffenberg - *Unspeakable Acts* (1990), as Joseph Braga - *Rosalie Goes Shopping* (1989), as Ray 'Liebling' Greenspace - *The Edge* (1989), as Kenny (Black Pudding) - *The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy* (1988), as Neil Travers - *The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial* (1988), as Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Francis Queeg - *Cold Steel* (1987), as Johnny Modine - *Heart* (1987), as Eddie - *When the Time Comes* (1987), as Dean - *Blood Ties* (1986), as Julian Salina - *Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo* (1986), as Tony Cimo - *The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1985), series, as Arthur - *The Twilight Zone* (1985), series, as Arthur Lewis (segment "Button, Button") - *Robert Kennedy & His Times* (1985), series, as Robert F. Kennedy - *The Hitchhiker* (1983), series, as Rulack - *Chiefs* (1983), series, as Sonny Butts - *Querelle* (1982), as Querelle - *Mrs. Reinhardt* (1981), as The American - *The Greatest Man in the World* (1981), as Jack Smurch - *Chariots of Fire* (1981), as Jackson Scholz — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/chariots-of-fire.md) - *A Rumor of War* (1980), series, as Philip "Phil" Caputo - *A Small Circle of Friends* (1980), as Leonardo DaVinci Rizzo - *Midnight Express* (1978), as Billy Hayes — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/midnight-express.md) - *Roots* (1977), series, as 'Old' George Johnson — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/roots.md) - *The Secret Life of John Chapman* (1976), as Andy Chapman - *Sybil* (1976), series, as Richard - *Baretta* (1975), series, as Ray - *Playhouse* (1974), series, as The American ## Gallery - ![Brad Davis](https://film.one/media/person/329676/gallery-05406493f568.jpg) Brad Davis — CBS Network, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Brad_Davis_actor_1980.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Brad Davis](https://film.one/media/person/329676/gallery-c5da585e5979.jpg) Brad Davis — Image via TMDB - ![Brad Davis](https://film.one/media/person/329676/gallery-81fc97fbe013.jpg) Brad Davis — Image via TMDB - ![Brad Davis](https://film.one/media/person/329676/gallery-b886674d41ae.jpg) Brad Davis — Image via TMDB - ![Brad Davis](https://film.one/media/person/329676/gallery-e15fac09e20a.jpg) Brad Davis — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/brad-davis