Roger Davis

Roger Davis
Performer1980
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Portrays:	Andromus
Date of Birth:	April 5, 1939
Date of Death:	Missing required parameter 1=month! ,
Age:	86
Nationality:	USA
Related Media
		@ BW Media
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IMDb profile

Jon Roger Davis (born April 5, 1939) is an American actor and entrepreneur best known for his work in television series Dark Shadows and Glen A. Larson's Western series Alias Smith and Jones. He portrayed Andromus, a human-looking Cylon, in the Galactica 1980 two-part episode "The Night the Cylons Landed" (Parts I and II) alongside former Dark Shadows co-star Lara Parker (Shirley Blore).

Early Life and Education

Davis was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 5, 1939, to Edwin and Virginia Davis. He spent his childhood in Louisville with his brothers Edwin Jr. and Brent, enjoying summers at the family farm in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he had his own Shetland pony, a prize pig, and hunting woods where he loved to play cowboy. His acting abilities emerged early when he played the Archbishop in Louisville's Children's Theater production of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" at age nine.

Davis attended Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, where he excelled on the debating team, winning an eight-state debating championship and the National Forensic League's top award. He also lettered in cross-country, track, and swimming, graduating as the school's second-highest ranking cadet and one of just six cadets selected to graduate Cum Honore. His name is permanently engraved in gold leaf on the wall of the academy's alumni association.

He graduated from Columbia College in 1961, where he majored in American and British literature and minored in the fine arts of architecture. Davis was classmates with future Dark Shadows co-star Don Briscoe and future director Brian De Palma, with whom he worked in the Columbia Players theatrical productions, including the "Varsity" show which De Palma directed that year. While at Columbia, Davis studied acting under drama coach Michael Howard in Greenwich Village and later in Los Angeles with Curt Conway, Eric Morris, and Lonnie Chapman. His acting classmates included Jack Nicholson, Ellen Burstyn, and Francis Ford Coppola.

At his father's insistence, Davis was accepted at both Columbia and Harvard law schools, but decided instead to pursue a teaching fellowship opportunity to instruct two classes of freshman English and a short novel course at UCLA right after graduation. While employed at UCLA, he worked on a master's degree in 18th century English literature, writing his thesis on Robert Frost. He supported himself by pumping gas and waiting tables, occasionally clocking 90 hours a week working the graveyard shift. He made the trip to California by bus with only $13 to his name.

Starting in late 1961, while teaching at UCLA, Davis began to invest in real estate, buying and renovating depressed residential properties to resell. This interest in architecture would become a lifelong passion and parallel career. His first project involved gutting, redesigning and rebuilding a home in Benedict Canyon north of the UCLA campus.

Acting Career

Early Television Work

Davis's professional acting debut came in 1962 when he was signed to Warner Bros. as a contract player for $850 a week. A girl in one of his English classes at UCLA asked him to play a part in a scene from the play "Bus Stop" being filmed at Warner Bros. Davis made a strong impression on director Robert Altman and series creator Roy Huggins during that audition.

His first role was as Private Roger Gibson in the ABC World War II series The Gallant Men, which was initially directed by Altman. The series ran until mid-1963.

In 1963, Davis replaced Ryan O'Neal in the retooled western series Redigo, the renamed and shortened second season of Empire. He stayed with the series until its cancellation in 1964. During this period, he appeared in the 1963 film PT 109 and had a supporting role in the 1964 cult beach film Ride the Wild Surf, starring Fabian. At the auditions for Ride the Wild Surf, Davis first met actor Pete Duel, beginning a friendship and series of professional collaborations that would span years.

In 1964, Davis appeared in "Spur of the Moment," a fifth season episode of The Twilight Zone, co-starring Diana Hyland. He guest-starred twice in the western TV series Bonanza, as Harold Stanley in the 1966 eighth season episode "Ballad of the Ponderosa" and Bert Yates in the 1971 12th season episode "Top Hand."

MacBird! and Voice-Over Career Begins

In 1966, after reading D.H. Lawrence's short story "Things," Davis reevaluated his life, liquidated his possessions, and returned to New York to pursue a serious acting career. He immediately captured one of the two lead roles in the political satire MacBird! as the Robert F. Kennedy-patterned character Robert Ken O'Dunc, at a salary of $100 per week. The play poked fun at the Lyndon Johnson/Robert Kennedy power struggle with a Shakespearean approach. Davis co-starred with Stacy Keach and performed first at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, later replacing William Devane in the New York City production. The show ran for a year off-Broadway. Critics in Boston raved, writing: "Remember the name Roger Davis. It's one you're going to be hearing about for years to come. This guy has talent."

Ethel Kennedy attended one of the shows and told her husband Robert F. Kennedy of Davis's performance. At Bobby Kennedy's insistence, Davis met the Senator after a show one evening. Kennedy told him, "I hear you play me with a lot of love." Tragedy struck just a few months later when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles, and the play was put on indefinite hold as it prepared for its Broadway debut.

After the production ended, Davis was referred to his first voice-over job by someone familiar with his MacBird! character, who thought a Robert F. Kennedy imitation would be perfect for selling Anacin. Davis first voiced the spot with his Kennedy-esque dialect, but the producers got cold feet over the prospect of being sued. They asked Davis to read it again in his own voice. They were awed with his natural Henry Fonda-sounding vocals, and Davis's career as a voice-over professional took off thereafter.

Dark Shadows

In 1968, Davis signed with Universal Studios and was offered the romantic lead as lawyer Peter Bradford in ABC's afternoon gothic soap Dark Shadows. Davis went on to play eight different roles on the series between January 11, 1968, and March 11, 1970, including Peter Bradford, Jeff Clark, the Ghost of Peter Bradford, Ned Stuart, Dirk Wilkins, and Charles Delaware Tate.

Davis recalled the intensity of memorizing his lines during the series' demanding production schedule, later joking that co-star Alexandra Moltke would cue him during their romantic scenes: "You thought we were kissing but she was telling me my next line."

He appeared in 129 episodes and also starred in the 1970 theatrical film House of Dark Shadows. In a 1970 interview with Teen Life magazine, Davis said: "Getting a part on 'Dark Shadows' was one of the best things that ever happened to me. But I feel strongly that I can't rest on that alone. I want to do more things."

Alias Smith and Jones

In 1965, Davis was signed to Screen Gems (the television division of Columbia Pictures), where he rejected an offer to star on the upcoming TV program Love on a Rooftop in favor of a TV series pilot based on the classic 1953 movie From Here to Eternity. Screen Gems producer Jerry Davis tried to talk him out of the remake, warning: "You're turning down a role that's perfect for you, that will make you a star...it will allow this gift for light humor that you have to come through, and you're going to go off and do the Montgomery Clift role in 'From Here to Eternity?' You'll only be compared, and never favorably, because Montgomery Clift OWNS that role...you're making a big mistake." Pete Duel was cast instead in Love on a Rooftop. Looking back, Davis admitted: "Pete was the right actor for that show; he did it a justice I could never have done."

In 1970, Davis and Duel starred together in the ABC Movie of the Week The Young Country, with Davis in the lead role. At an interview with producer Roy Huggins for the film, Davis explained that he knew Duel. Huggins called Duel to the office and directly told him: "I know you're cast as Steven Foster Moody, but I want to switch it. I want to make you Honest John Smith and I want to make Roger Steven Foster Moody." Duel responded graciously: "Hey, it's fine with me. They're both terrific parts." When they walked out of Huggins' office together, Duel told Davis: "You know, I see why Roy would want you to do Steven Foster Moody and I can really do something with Honest John Smith. It's going to be fine, you know. I hope your test goes well." Davis later reflected: "I can't imagine that many actors would have reacted the way he did, that quickly and that positively, and be that easy about it."

During the filming of The Young Country, Duel was supportive and helpful to Davis. In their first scene together riding horses, Duel could see that Davis was nervous. After the first take, he said: "The scene's working. Relax. It's there." Davis remembered: "He didn't have to say anything and a lot of actors wouldn't have said anything. They would have let you gag or let whatever was eating you eat you alive. And I've known actors who found that amusing, too."

Davis initially served as narrator for the ABC western series Alias Smith and Jones, which premiered in 1971 and starred Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Kid Curry. He also guest-starred in the October 1971 episode "Smiler with a Gun" as gunfighter Danny Bilson, with his character having the distinction of being the only person killed by Kid Curry during the series.

When Pete Duel died by suicide on December 31, 1971, Davis was in Denver completing a voice work project, having just finished a marathon 48 radio spots including 35 for Ponderosa Steakhouses. He was en route to nearby Aspen for skiing when he was detained at the airport by officials sent to locate him. Producer Roy Huggins called him and said: "Peter shot himself. He's dead." Davis recalled: "I remember saying, 'How long will I be doing the show? How many shows will you be needing me to do?' you know, because I thought he meant Pete had had an accident and would be laid up for a while. And he said, 'Peter shot himself. He's dead.' And I think he repeated it and I said, 'Oh, my God.'"

Davis was hired for Duel's role by Huggins over the phone and returned immediately to California. Production hastily resumed the day after Duel's burial. Davis had to recreate scenes Duel had already partially filmed for the episode "The Biggest Game in the West." "They even gave me Pete's dressing room," Davis explained. "His clothes, his personal belongings, even his cigarettes were still in there." Films of Duel's performance were viewed over and over that day so Davis could duplicate his actions, casting a pall over the production. Davis later confirmed that one shot of Duel remained in the finished episode: "That's Pete...it's the back of Pete (as) he walks into a hotel."

Davis later reflected on replacing his friend: "It was the hardest thing I ever, ever, ever was asked to do and ever had to do." When asked what Duel brought to the role that he didn't, Davis said: "Pete was himself. He had more of what the essence of good work is: the ability to be yourself and to bring yourself into what you do, not an image of yourself, but who you are and what you are and the easier it is for you, the easier it will be for the audience and the better you will do."

Davis completed 17 episodes in the role, but the series faced stiff competition from NBC's The Flip Wilson Show and later CBS's All in the Family, and was cancelled in January 1973. Davis recalled: "Even my own parents watched 'All in the Family' first, then tuned in to the last half-hour of 'Smith and Jones!'"

During filming of the 1972-73 season, Davis suffered two injuries: he took 19 stitches in his forehead when a lighting standard fell on him in July 1972, and the following month on August 15, he was trampled by a horse when his cinch broke.

Years later, Davis reflected on Duel: "Pete Duel is an important memory in my life, and a lasting memory, both personally and professionally, and I will always have a great respect and admiration and kinship for him as a person and as an actor. I just will. He never, ever, let me down. Ever." When asked if Duel ever let him down, Davis replied: "Yeah. Except once."

Voice-Over Success

Davis's career as a voice-over announcer became highly lucrative. In 1971, he earned $250,000 for his voice work, including $100,000 for Canada Dry commercials alone—a far cry from the $3 total he admitted to making for the year 1966. He appeared on-camera in commercials for Brut 33 cologne and Canada Dry with actress Lauren Hutton, and provided voice-overs for McDonald's, American Express, Nationwide Insurance, Plymouth, Salem Cigarettes, Norelco, Gold Medal Flour, Philco refrigerators, Dad's Root Beer, the Red Cross, Equitable Life Insurance, Heinz Ketchup, Mrs. Paul's Yams, Armour Star Bacon, Glad Bags, Kawasaki, Quiet World, and even Forest Lawn Cemeteries in Los Angeles. He was honored by both the New York Advertising Board and the National Board of Advertisers for his voice-over work. Over his career, Davis has been a voice-over artist for thousands of TV and radio commercials.

Later Television and Film Work

Throughout the 1970s, Davis continued acting in guest-starring roles on television series and occasional films. In December 1975, he nearly died from an undiagnosed ruptured appendix. After five months in the hospital and seven operations for peritonitis, he weighed only 91 pounds. He recovered at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel before resuming his acting career in 1976.

His film appearances included Killer Bees (1974), Flash and the Firecat (1975, which also featured his younger brother Brent), Nashville Girl (1976), Ruby (1977) with Piper Laurie and Stuart Whitman, and the NBC miniseries Aspen (1977). His television guest appearances included Wonder Woman (1977), Quincy, M.E. (1977), and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977).

In March 1979, Davis appeared in television commercials introducing the new Chevrolet Citation, touting "the First Chevy of the 80s" in an advertising blitz.

In April 1980, Davis appeared in Galactica 1980 as Andromus, a humanoid Cylon who crash-lands on Earth with a Centurion in the two-part episode "The Night the Cylons Landed." The episodes aired on April 13 and April 20, 1980, and were later packaged together as the theatrical movie Conquest of the Earth in Europe and Australia, then shown as a 1981 TV movie in the United States.

Davis appeared in the 1982 theatrical movie The Act, followed by television appearances in a January 1988 episode of The Highwayman and a May 1989 episode of Matlock, where he was murdered in the first 10 minutes of the show. He also acted in the 1989 NBC television movie Chameleons, which was not picked up as a series.

His most recent acting roles were in the 1997 TV series Night Man and the independent theatrical movie Beyond the Pale (2000), shot in the US and Ireland. The film won the Houston Worldfest 2000 Film Festival's bronze award for independent productions and was a finalist in Arizona's 2000 Saguaro Film Festival International.

In November 1999, Davis appeared on the E! cable network's "Mysteries and Scandals: Peter Duel" documentary. In 2019, he appeared as himself in the documentary Master of Dark Shadows.

Davis regularly attends fan conventions for both Alias Smith and Jones and Dark Shadows. In 2011, he reprised his role as Charles Delaware Tate in two new Dark Shadows audio plays, The Blind Painter and The Crimson Pearl. In March 2001, Davis participated in the Museum of Television & Radio tribute to Dark Shadows in Hollywood, joining series creator Dan Curtis and numerous cast members for a panel discussion and screening.

Real Estate and Business Career

Davis began investing in real estate while teaching at UCLA in the early 1960s, buying and renovating depressed residential properties. His interest in architecture, fueled by his minor at Columbia, became a lifelong passion and parallel career.

By 1973, Davis had formed "Thoroughbred Properties" and began developing apartment complexes and homes in Beverly Hills. His early renters included composer John Williams, Bill Cosby, and Barry Newman. He acquired and developed numerous properties, including a 40-unit apartment complex in the Hancock Park district of Los Angeles purchased from actor Arthur O'Connell.

In 1978, Davis returned to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, to oversee major restoration projects. He designed and built 1400 Willow, a 20-story Georgian-style luxury condominium building in Louisville's historic district overlooking Cherokee Park (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, best known for creating Central Park in New York City). The building was completed in 1980.

Davis and a business partner purchased the historic Seelbach Hotel, a 1905 structure lovingly referred to in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. Davis gutted, restored, and redesigned the hotel, which reopened in 1982. While he invested over $30 million in the restoration and over $20 million in 1400 Willow, Davis's credo was: "When it comes down to making a decision based on doing it well, or based on dollars, I will always opt for doing it well." He later sold the property to the Hilton chain. The hotel was featured prominently in the 1999 film The Insider starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe. Davis hosted the "Dark Shadows Fellowship Fair" at the Seelbach in 1987 and 1988. Louisville historian R.C. Reible said of Davis: "He's really an architectural historian with a reverence for preservation; he has been able to use this knowledge and desire to create new concepts from the past, with an eye to the future."

Davis also renovated the historic "Spring Station" mansion, Louisville's oldest home built in 1791, where he lived with his second wife and daughter. He renovated buildings in the Highlands area of Louisville, as well as the city's Commodore and Dartmouth-Willow Terrace luxury high-rise apartments.

In 1989, with both parents recently deceased and new opportunities calling, Davis relocated to Los Angeles and resumed his real estate development career. That same year, he opened an apparel manufacturing business, "Packing Crate Classics," in Santa Monica, California. Davis's shirts and accessories were sold at J.C. Penney and other upscale retailers. One series of shirts called "Baseball Forever" even made the cover of Time Magazine, worn by Senator John Kerry.

Davis's most intense real estate project took him to the Hollywood Hills, where he developed land and, along with architect Angelo Caciola, designed contemporary homes worth over $5 million each. "I credit Angelo for his spectacular work," Davis said in 2005, "and for the fact that he was open to me designing the finishes and details that make a big project like this very special." Davis developed land and built homes in Southern California until 2010, and as of 2022 continues to design and renovate properties in the greater Los Angeles area.

Davis was involved in the production end of the film industry as a partner with producer Tony Eldridge in Lonetree Entertainment, a movie production company based in Malibu, California. They brought the 1980s TV series The Equalizer to the big screen in 2014, starring Denzel Washington.

Davis's family owned the Modern Hi-Cap Tire Company (later Davis Tire Company) in Louisville. Upon his father's death, Davis purchased the remaining stock from his brothers and continues to own the company.

Personal Life

In July 1968, Davis met his future wife, Ellen "Jaclyn" Smith, in a New York City elevator after both had attended a commercial audition. Davis, who kept his own car in the city, gave Smith a ride back uptown to her parents' hotel and was introduced to his future in-laws. After two dates and a short courtship, Davis and Smith were married on November 29, 1968, at Bethany Methodist Church in her hometown of Houston, Texas. Smith had only recently moved to New York City to pursue an education in ballet and was about to take on her first modeling job when she met Davis.

At Davis's suggestion, Smith auditioned for the part of Victoria Winters (Davis's on-screen wife) on Dark Shadows when Alexandra Moltke departed the show due to pregnancy, but Smith decided not to take the role. Producers were also not excited about the idea of Davis's character being married to his leading lady both on and off screen. Smith later became the "Breck Girl" in shampoo commercials and starred in Charlie's Angels beginning in 1976.

Davis and Smith separated and divorced in January 1975. Davis reflected: "The root of our problem was simply (that) we were separated for long periods of time on different projects, and I was too immature to realize how much Ellen (Jaclyn) was my soulmate." Smith blamed herself: "I was too much an innocent. I was too much living [just] for him, and I lost sight of myself." They had no children together.

On May 19, 1979, Davis married Suzanne Irwin (Emerson), an Ohio philanthropist and part of a pioneering Ohio family. In 1981, they became parents to a daughter, Margaret. Davis proudly said of her: "She's a cross between Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. She's really something!" Margaret later moved to Southern California, graduated from USC, and became an entrepreneur. The family resided at Spring Station in Louisville. Davis and Irwin divorced on March 8, 1983.

On June 15, 1985, Davis married Louisville realtor Alice LeGette, who represented his condominiums at 1400 Willow. They divorced on June 7, 1988.

In November 1991, Davis married Los Angeles attorney Donna Jenis after a two-year long-distance courtship while he was in Los Angeles and she was in Boston. They met in 1990 at the World Trade Center in Boston while Davis was visiting the East Coast on business. Davis's celebrity status was unknown to Jenis when they met. He said: "She watched 'Dark Shadows' as a child, but didn't remember me in the show...only the vampires!" Their relationship ended amicably in 2017.

In December 1975, Davis had a nearly fatal health crisis from an undiagnosed ruptured appendix. He had just completed the pilot of The Bionic Woman as the romantic interest of Lindsay Wagner (whom he knew from actor James Best's acting class in the mid-1960s). After five months in the hospital and seven operations for peritonitis, the usually strapping and healthy Davis weighed only 91 pounds.

External Links

• Roger Davis at the Internet Movie Database