Donald George Davis (February 26, 1928 – January 23, 1998) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

actor.

Career

He was born in

Newmarket, Ontario Newmarket (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 87,942) is a town and regional seat of the Regional Municipality of York in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It is part of Greater Toronto Area, Greater Toron ...

, where his grandfather

Elihu James Davis Elihu James Davis (December 2, 1851 – June 18, 1936) was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented York North in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal member from 1888 to 1904. Davis was born in York Township, ...

(and his uncle, Aubrey Davis) owned the Davis Leather Company. He attended St. Andrew's College from 1941 to 1946, graduating with the Class of 1946, and studied theatre at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. He performed at the Woodstock Playhouse in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 1947. In 1948, with his brother, Murray Edward Davis, he founded a summer theatre company, the Straw Hat Players, at

Muskoka, Ontario The District Municipality of Muskoka, more generally referred to as the District of Muskoka or Muskoka, is a List of regional municipalities in Ontario, Canada, regional municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. It extends from Georgian Bay in the ...

. Davis performed in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

from 1950 to 1953. In 1953, with his brother and sister (

Barbara Chilcott Barbara Chilcott Davis (September 10, 1922 – January 1, 2022) was a Canadian actress. Career After the war she studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and made her West End debut in 1949. On her return to Canada in 1950, sh ...

), he founded the Crest Theatre in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, which operated until 1966. He performed at the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shak ...

and on radio and television. He was also a member of the acting company at the

American Shakespeare Theatre The American Shakespeare Theatre was a theater company based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was formed in the early 1950s by Lawrence Langner, Lincoln Kirstein, John Percy Burrell, and philanthropist Joseph Verner Reed. The American Shakespeare ...

in Stratford,

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. ...

. In 1959, he began performing

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 ...

. He played Krapp in the North American premiere production of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

's ''

Krapp's Last Tape ''Krapp's Last Tape'' is a 1958 one-act play, in English, by Samuel Beckett. With a cast of one man, it was written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee (actor), Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue". It was inspired by Beckett's e ...

'', for which he won an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

. He performed in regional theatres in Canada and the United States. He appeared on television in "The Wild Wild West" S3 E18 "The Night of the Vipers" as the scheming Mayor Vance Beaumont. The episode aired on 1/10/1968.

Death

Davis died of

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

at Toronto in 1998 at age 69. St. Andrew's College opened the Donald Davis Theatre posthumously in his honour.

Selected filmography

* ''

San Diego, I Love You ''San Diego, I Love You'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Jon Hall, Louise Allbritton and Edward Everett Horton. The screenwriters for the film included Ruth McKenney, author of '' My Sister Eileen'' ...

'' (1944) * '' The Return of Rusty'' (1946) * '' Joy in the Morning'' (1965) * '' And Then You Die'' (1987)

References

External links

Entry from the Canadian Encyclopedia

by Mel Gussow, January 28, 1998, in

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 ...

.
UK National Portrait Gallery
* Goodwin, Jill Tomasson. "A Career in Review: Donald Davis Canadian Actor, Producer, Director." Theatre Research in Canada 10.2 (1989): 132–151. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Donald 1928 births 1998 deaths Canadian male stage actors Canadian people of British descent Actors from Newmarket, Ontario Male actors from Ontario 20th-century Canadian male actors