William Clarke Davis (August 24, 1951February 26, 2021) was an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He was best known for his 1980 play '' Mass Appeal''. Other noted works of his include ''Dancing in the End Zone'', ''Wrestlers'', ''Spine'', ''Avow'', ''Coming2Terms'', ''All Hallowed'', ''Jeremiah Rules'', ''Expatriate'', and ''Austin's Bridge''.

Early life

Davis was born in

Ellenville, New York Ellenville is a village within the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, United States. Its population was 4,167 at the 2020 census. History The area was originally called "Socconessing" by the first inhabitants, the Esopus Munsee of ...

, on August 24, 1951. His family was of Italian, Irish and Eastern European descent. His father, Warren, initially ran a men's clothing store and later on became a teacher. He had been captured by the Germans while fighting in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His mother, Terry, was employed as an

executive assistant A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evaluat ...

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

and also worked at a boarding school. Davis attended Our Lady of Lourdes High School in

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New ...

, and wrote his first play when he was sixteen years old. He went on to study at

Marist College Marist University is a private university in Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Marist was founded by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute, in 1905 to prepare brothers for their ...

, graduating in 1974. After graduation, Davis worked at Rhinebeck Country Village, a residential community for developmentally disabled and emotionally disturbed adults. He wrote '' Mass Appeal'' during his time at Rhinebeck, which he said he "began to understand human nature" through his outreach to the individuals living there.

Career

''Mass Appeal'' debuted at the

Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Lynne Meadow has been the company’s Artistic Director and visionary since 1972. Barry Grove joined the company in 19 ...

(MTC) in the spring of 1980. It was well-received, with

Frank Rich Frank Hart Rich Jr. (born June 2, 1949) is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within ''The New York Times'' from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO. Rich is ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' writing how the play "quickly deepens into a wise, moving and very funny comedy about the nature of friendship, courage and all kinds of love". He described Davis as "a natural howrites with wit, passion and a sure sense of stagecraft". It shifted to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

the following year, ultimately running for 212 performances at the

Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the It ...

. Director

Geraldine Fitzgerald Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (November 24, 1913 – July 17, 2005) was an Irish actress. She received the Daytime Emmy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. She was a member of the American T ...

and

Milo O'Shea Milo Donal O'Shea (2 June 1926 – 2 April 2013) was an Irish actor. He was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performances in ''Staircase'' (1968) and '' Mass Appeal'' (1982). Early life O'Shea was born and ...

(who played the main character) were both nominated for

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cere ...

, while Davis himself was nominated for the

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The award was initially ...

in 1981. ''Mass Appeal'' also won the

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town news ...

for best play, as well as the

Molière Award The Les Molière is the national theatre award of France and it recognises achievement of French theatre each year. The awards are considered the highest honour for productions and performances. Presided and decided by the ''Association profess ...

. It was adapted as a film of the same name three years later and featured

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, he was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in comedy-drama films. He received num ...

and

Željko Ivanek Željko Ivanek (; ; born August 15, 1957) is a Slovenian-American actor of Croat descent. Ivanek's film credits include '' Courage Under Fire'' (1996), '' Donnie Brasco'' (1997), '' Hannibal'', '' Black Hawk Down'' (both 2001), '' Unfaithful'' ( ...

. Davis utilized the royalties and the film sale of ''Mass Appeal'' towards producing other plays. This included ''Dancing in the End Zone'', which opened in 1985 and ran for only three weeks. It turned out to be his only other Broadway production. He also authored ''Wrestlers'', which ran that same year in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He went on to write ''All Hallowed'', which was based on his father's interment on

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

in 1995 and the persistence of Davis' nephew to carry on

trick-or-treating Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". Th ...

that same night. One year later, his play ''Avow'' had its world premiere at the

George Street Playhouse George Street Playhouse is a theater company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the city's Civic Square, New Brunswick, Civic Square government and theater district and resident at the newly built New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The GSP is o ...

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It proceeded to run

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

for one month in 2000, before debuting in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Davis was the Artist-in-Residence at Marist College (his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

) from 2010 to 2011. There, he taught the course "Advanced Playwriting" and held workshops on the business of theatre to upper-level theatre students. He was also playwright-in-residence at the MTC and

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

, as well as Playwright Mentor at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. He was the writer, director, and producer of two

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

s, ''Household Accounts'' and ''Avow'', that he also acted in. They were released in 2018, three years before his death; the latter film was an adaptation of his play. Davis was the recipient of several awards, including the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' Critic's Choice Award, a National Board of Review citation, and the

Drama-Logue Award The Drama-Logue Award was an American theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would recei ...

. He was conferred the Marist College President's Award in 1981, for his "distinguished achievement in American theatre and the arts". He was later inducted into his alma mater's Theatre Hall of Fame in 2016.

Personal life

Davis was gay and remained a lifelong

bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

. He joined the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and made a brief run for Congress in 2005 for

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. He was a regular contributor to

Common Dreams Common Dreams NewsCenter, often referred to simply as Common Dreams, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, U.S.-based news website with a stated goal of serving the progressive community. Common Dreams publishes news stories, editorials, and a newswire of c ...

. He called for a ban on

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

and

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

, and spoke out against

fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast food, fast-food cuisine and has minimal Foodservice#Table service, table service. The food served ...

s, sugar, and processed foods in November 2020. Davis died on February 26, 2021, at a care center in

Torrington, Connecticut Torrington is the most populated municipality and largest city in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, and the Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut, Northwest Hills Planning Region. It is also the core city of Greater Torringto ...

. He was 69, and had been diagnosed with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

one month prior to his death.

References

Sources

Bill C. Davis, whose play 'Mass Appeal' lived up to its title, dies at 69

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Bill C. 1952 births 2021 deaths American short story writers American dramatists and playwrights American people of Russian-Jewish descent Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Connecticut Emerson College alumni Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Marist College alumni People from Ellenville, New York American gay writers American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights LGBTQ people from Connecticut LGBTQ people from New York (state) American LGBTQ screenwriters Gay Jews