Bruce Davison
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
His official web site is www.brucedavison.com.
"I've been stigmatized by roles so many times over the course of my career. In 'Willard,' I kissed the rat, and that was the last living thing that I kissed on-screen for ten years." --Bruce Davison to Premiere, June 1990.
Biography
Bruce Davison is one of Hollywood's hardest-working "chameleons," having turned in dozens of outstanding performances in both lead and character roles on stage, screen and television. During his 30-plus-year career he has played many a villain and hero--tackling the roles of disturbed teenagers, crusading defense attorneys, romantic lovers and put-upon husbands. He has managed to avoid being typed, or when typed, the tag has not stuck long. Though some still identify him with the nerd who kissed the rodent in "Willard" (1971), others may remember him as Captain Wyler from NBC's "Hunter (1984-86), the sensitive caregiver in "Longtime Companion" (1990) or the senator who hates mutants in "X-Men" (2000). Davison has shown Hollywood he is an actor with a wide range, and the movie industry has rewarded him with challenging and diverse roles.
Born to an architect and a secretary and raised in Pennsylvania, this blond, college-educated actor made an auspicious debut in Frank Perry's sensitive teen film, "Last Summer" (1969), opposite Richard Thomas and Barbara Hershey, and followed with top billing in the cluttered Hollywood treatment of the Columbia student demonstrations "The Strawberry Statement" (1970) and in the box-office thriller "Willard," playing a sensitive loner who breeds pet rats to attack his former boss and co-workers, who were cruel to him.
Temporarily sidetracked into lesser big screen projects for much of the 1970s and 80s, Davison surfaced in some excellent television fare like the Emmy-winning special "The Gathering" (CBS, 1977) and the TV-movies "Summer of My German Soldier" (NBC, 1978) and "Ghost Dancing" (ABC, 1983). Although he helped his cause in features by accepting the controversial part of the child molester in Robert M Young's uncompromising prison drama, "Short Eyes" (1977), no role has been more pivotal to his career than that of David, a wealthy man who tenderly and patiently cares for his AIDS-stricken lover, in "Longtime Companion" (1990). His David is the heart of the movie, the character who draws together a group of gay men grappling with the horrors of the deadly disease. For his searing performance, he received numerous accolades from critics' groups as well as a richly deserved Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor.
Since "Longtime Companion," Davison, has kept extremely busy in both films and on TV. He portrayed a father whose child is struck by a car in Robert Altman's oversized canvas "Short Cuts" and was one among many taken in by Will Smith's character in "Six Degrees of Separation" (both 1993). Two of his movies continued to reflect his concern about AIDS, "The Cure" (1995) and "It's My Party" (1996), and in spite of the fact that his wife, actress Lisa Pelikin, was just about to give birth to their son Ethan, the TV-movie script "Hidden in America" (Showtime, 1996) was too good for him to pass up. Other memorable supporting performances included his portrayals of a zealous Puritan minister in "The Crucible" (1996), Brad Renfro's sympathetic, yet clueless father in "Apt Pupil" (1998) and mutant-hating Senator Kelly (one of the few humans) in the big-screen version of the Marvel Comic's hit "X-Men" (2000) and its sequel "X2" (2003), the latter three films each helmed by Bryan Singer. Davison also specialized in playing tightly wound authority figures in such thrillers as "High Crimes" (2002) and "Runaway Jury" (2003).
In addition, Davison also found time to star on television as George Henderson in the syndicated comedy series "Harry and the Hendersons" (1990-93), episodes of which he directed. The actor, who thrice appeared as Wyck Fayer on the sit-com "Seinfeld" in 1996 and 1997, also delivered a particularly potent and surprising performance in his recurring role of accused murderer Scott Wallace in David E. Kelly's ABC legal drama "The Practice" during the 2000-2001 season (Davison previously worked in a recurring role on Kelly's medical series "Chicago Hope"). The actor also directed and co-starred in the well-recived holiday-themed TV movie "Off Season" (2001), the final film for actor Hume Cronin.
Davison's busy film schedule has not, however, prevented him from having a distinguished stage career. He appeared in daring works like "Streamers" (1978) and "The Normal Heart" (1986), both of which earned him Los Angeles Drama Critics Awards, and Off-Broadway in "The Cocktail Hour" (1989) and "How I Learned to Drive" (1997). in which he portrayed the pedophile Uncle Peck. His 1980 performance as John Merrick in Broadway's "The Elephant Man" and as Tom in "The Glass Menagerie" with Jessica Tandy in 1983 also wowed New York audiences.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Casting (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Misc. Crew (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Producer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1967
Broadway debut, Lincoln Center Repertory production of "Tiger at the Gates"
1969
Feature acting debut, "Last Summer"
1971
Made TV acting debut in an episode of the ABC series "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law"
1971
First leading role; played a rat-loving social misfit in "Willard"
1973
Featured in episode of "Love, American Style"
1974
Appeared as the grown-up Patrick in Lucille Ball's last film of "Mame"
1977
Played a child molester in realistic prison drama, "Short Eyes"
1977
Had small role in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
1980
Starred on Broadway in "The Elephant Man"; succeeded original star Philip Anglim in the role of John Merrick
1983
Played Tom, the authorial stand-in, in a Broadway revival of "The Glass Menagerie" with Jessica Tandy
1984
Portrayed Captain Wyler on the NBC TV series "Hunter"
1984
Had leading role on TV in "V: The Series" (NBC)
1986
Played Felix, the journalist who succumbs to AIDS, in the L.A. premiere of Larry Kramer's play "The Normal Heart"
1987
Appeared in the NBC miniseries "Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story"
1990
Received Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a gay man caring for his dying lover in "Longtime Companion"
1993
Acted in four films, including Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" and Fred Schepisi's "Six Degrees of Separation"
1996
Portrayed Reverend Paris in the film adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"
1997
Starred in the controversial Showtime movie "The Color of Justice"
1997
Returned to the New York stage playing a man who commits incest with his niece in the Off-Broadway play "How I Learned to Drive"
1998
Earned an Emmy nomination for his guest stint on "Touched By an Angel"
1998
Played the father of a troubled teen in the film adaptation of the Stephen King novella "Apt Pupil", directed by Bryan Singer
1999
Guest starred as an arrogant plastic surgeon in the season premiere of "Chicago Hope" (CBS)
2000
Starred in the Dogma 95 production of "The King Is Alive", a drama about passengers who stage "King Lear" after their bus breaks down in the desert; premiered at Cannes
2000
Reunited with Singer for the big-screen version of the comic-book adventure "X-Men"; played Senator Kelly, a politician who believed mutants should not be treated like people
2001
Appeared as Jessica Biel's father in the Freddie Prinze Jr romance "Summer Catch"
2001
Portrayed yet another parent to a teen, this time a troubled young woman played by Kirsten Dunst in "crazy/beautiful"
2001
Made directorial debut with the Showtime original "Off Season"; also starred
2004
Cast as Dr. "Steg" Stegman, the arrogant chief of staff in Stephen King's medical drama "Kingdom Hospital"
2005
Had a recurring role on the CBS drama series, "Close to Home"
2007
Co-starred in "Breach," a thriller about FBI traitor Robert Hanssen played by Chris Cooper
Videos
Movie Clip
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
His official web site is www.brucedavison.com.
"I've been stigmatized by roles so many times over the course of my career. In 'Willard,' I kissed the rat, and that was the last living thing that I kissed on-screen for ten years." --Bruce Davison to Premiere, June 1990.
Bruce Davison told US (November 1993) magazine he wanted a part in Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" so badly he was prepared to "read the phone book naked, upside down" during his audition.Altman gave Davison a role without seeing him audtion for it.
" . . . I was in a public speaking class and I read something by Arthur Miller, actually, and it was a speech on what it means to be an actor. It said something like 'The rewards of being an actor do not come from the Oscars or other awards, but from the fact that one time in his life on a dark and empty stage an actor gave life to something. It was not himself, but everything he had ever felt or imagined. All the unsinkable heart song that the ordinary man may feel but never utter, he gave life to. And in doing so, somehow joins the ages.' And I thought that's what I would like to do . . ." --Bruce Davison to Patty Goldman in The Biz, December 27, 1996.
