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: The Complete Miniseries (1977). His biggest
success was in 1978 with the lead role in 12 Uhr nachts - 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 - Ein Pakt mit dem Teufel (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.
