The Rapid Rise and Fall of Brad Davis
It wasn’t until 2004 that I finally watched 1978’s Midnight Express, the film about an American held in the horrible conditions of a Turkish prison. I was amazed by this film, but mostly by the lead actor, sexy and talented Brad Davis. After the film, I immediately wondered what became of him. By that time, Hollywood and all the excesses it has to offer had consumed Davis.
Brad Davis was born into a middle class family which unfortunately included an alcoholic father and a mother who was sexually attached to her son. It must have been that childhood that both confused and angered Davis as an adult. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and also studied acting in New York at the American Place Theater. Davis’ wife, Susan Bluestein, said in “After Midnight: The Life and Death of Brad Davis” that he had been forced to hustle in Times Square to survive and at one point, had lived with a transvestite.
Davis appeared in several plays before appearing in the soap opera “How to Survive a Marriage” in 1974. When he appeared in the 1976 made for television film “Sybil,” people really began to take notice. The next year, he appeared in the highly acclaimed miniseries “Roots.”
In 1978, Davis landed the role of Billy Hayes in Midnight Express. By the way, the movie differs in many ways from the book, which is a real life account. Davis’ performance was incredible and while earning him a Golden Globe fore Best New Actor, it failed to get him an Oscar nod. After Midnight Express, Davis expected offers to come pouring in. They didn’t. His wild behavior, both on and off the set, didn’t help matters. Brad Davis was, for whatever reason, tormented by inner demons he couldn’t control.
He had had a problem with alcohol for some time, but during the filming of Midnight Express began using the drug of choice at that time – cocaine. By 1981, he had joined Alcoholics Anonymous, but not before having bouts of erratic behavior, some which ended in arrests and probably ruined many film opportunities.
In 1983, Davis took a risk by appearing in Querelle as a gay sailor, but the film was a flop. He won critical acclaim in 1985 when he appeared in the play “The Normal Heart.” In the play, Davis portrayed the lover of a man dying of AIDS. In real life, he himself was dying of AIDS.
Speculation ranges from drug use to homosexual contact as how Davis contracted AIDS, but in order to keep working, Davis kept his disease a secret. Bluestein claims in her book that Davis was heterosexual, but many claimed that his bisexuality was well known.
Although Davis continued to work, he never regained the fame of his Midnight Express days. Before his death, he and Bluestein started working on the book that would tell his life story, but it wasn’t published until 1997. Davis died, reportedly of an intentional overdose with his wife present, on September 8, 1991. He was 41 years old and left behind his daughter, Alexandra, who was eight at the time.
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Tags: AIDS, Brad Davis, Homosexuality
June 12th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Great article, dismissing many of the myths of this great actor and replacing them with facts. I doubt many know that he was married, and had a kid, for example.