{{Short description|Canadian actor (1928–1998)}} {{For|other persons|Donald Davis (disambiguation)}} {{Use Canadian English |date=July 2025}} {{Infobox person |image=File:Donald_Davis,_1984_Portrait.png |caption=Donald Davis in 1984 |birth_date=February 26, 1928 |birth_place=Newmarket, Ontario, Canada |death_date={{Death date and age|1998|01|23|1928|02|26}} |death_place=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |occupation={{plainlist| * actor * director * producer }} }}
'''Donald George Davis''' (February 26, 1928 – January 23, 1998) was a Canadian film and theatre actor, theatre director and theatre producer. He was a founder of the Crest Theatre in Toronto, which pioneered Canadian actors, directors and plays.
==Early life== He was born in Newmarket, Ontario, where his grandfather Elihu James Davis (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. In 1947, he performed in Robert Gills' first Hart House Theatre production, ''Saint Joan''.{{sfn|Benson|Conolly|1989|page=132}}
==Professional career== Davis made his professional debut at the Woodstock Playhouse in New York in 1947 in ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street''.{{sfn|Benson|Conolly|1989|page=132}} In 1948, with his brother, Murray Davis, he founded a summer theatre company, the Straw Hat Players, at Muskoka, Ontario. Davis performed in Britain from 1950 to 1953 with the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre and the Bristol Old Vic.
In 1953, with his brother Murray and sister Barbara, he co-founded the Crest Theatre in Toronto, which operated until 1966.{{sfn|Benson|Conolly|1989|page=132}} As well as acting at the Crest, he also directed several plays. He performed at the Stratford Festival in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1969 and 1970.{{sfn|Benson|Conolly|1989|page=132}} He also acted on radio and television for the CBC.
In 1959, he left Canada to act in the United States. In 1959, he began performing off-Broadway. He played Krapp in the North American premiere production of Samuel Beckett's ''Krapp's Last Tape'', for which he won an Obie Award.<ref name="gussow">{{cite news |last1=Gussow |first1=Mel |title=Donald Davis, 69, Actor in Challenging Roles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/28/arts/donald-davis-69-actor-in-challenging-roles.html|newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 28, 1998 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250221213350/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/28/arts/donald-davis-69-actor-in-challenging-roles.html |archivedate=February 21, 2025}}</ref> and he repeated the role at the Crest. This was the first in a series of roles in plays by Beckett and directed by Alan Schneider, and Davis was considered a foremost interpreter of Beckett.<ref name="gussow"/>
In the United States, Davis performed in many regional theatres, including City Centre Theatre in New York, Provincetown Playhouse, American Shakespeare Festival, New York's Mermaid Theatre and Chicago's Goodman Theatre.{{sfn|Benson|Conolly|1989|pages=132,133}} He also appeared on US television. Davis appeared in "The Wild Wild West", season 3, episode 18 "The Night of the Vipers" as the scheming Mayor Vance Beaumont. The episode aired on January 10, 1968. Davis would perform again in New York in a performance of Beckett Plays in 1983, directed by Schneider.
In 1971, Davis returned to Canada. He performed at Festival Lennoxville, in Toronto at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts with Toronto Arts Productions, CentreStage and Theatre Plusin Toronto, and the Neptune Theatre in Halifax.{{sfn|Benson|Conolly|1989|page=133}} He also appeared in several Canadian films.
Davis directed theatre also, first with the Straw Hat Players, Festival Lennoxville, the Shaw Festival, Edmonton's Citadel Theatre and Ottawa's National Arts Centre.{{sfn|Benson|Conolly|1989|page=133}}
==Death== Davis died of emphysema at Toronto in 1998 at age 69.<ref name="gussow"/> St. Andrew's College opened the Donald Davis Theatre posthumously in his honour.
==Selected filmography== * ''Joy in the Morning'' (1965) * ''Samuel Lount'' (1985) * ''And Then You Die'' (1987)
==Crest performances== {{div col}} * ''The Light of Heart'' (1954) * ''Lord Arthur Savile's Crime'' (1954) * ''Miss Julie'' (1954) * ''Murder in the Cathedral'' (1954) * ''Dream Girl'' (1954) * ''Haste to the Wedding'' (1954) * ''A Jig for the Gypsy'' (1954) * ''The Living Room'' (1954) * ''The Confidential Clerk'' (1954) * ''Christmas in the Marketplace'' (1954, 1955) * ''Twelfth Night'' (1955) * ''The Biggest Thief in Town'' (1955) * ''Marching Song'' (1955) * ''Meeting at Night'' (1955) * ''When We Are Married'' (1955) * ''Hunting Stuart'' (1955) * ''Come Back Little Sheba'' (1956) * ''Antigone'' (1956) * ''The Three Sisters'' (1956) * ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (1956) * ''Village Wooing'' (1956) * ''The Glass Cage'' (1957) * ''The Cherry Orchard'' (1958) * ''Double Image'' (1958) * ''Krapp's Last Tape'' (1961) {{end div col}} Source: {{sfn|Illidge|2005|pp=115-136}}
==References== {{Reflist}} ===Sources=== * {{cite book |last=Illidge |first=Paul |year=2005 |title=Glass Cage: The Crest Theatre Story |publisher=Creber Monde (Canada) |location=Toronto |isbn=0968634796}} * {{cite book |title=The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre |editor1-first=Eugene |editor1-last=Benson |editor2-first=L. W. |editor2-last=Conolly |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195406729}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930061757/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0011627 Entry from the Canadian Encyclopedia] * [http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/TRIC/bin/get.cgi?directory=vol10_2/&filename=Goodwin.htm Donald Davis: Canadian Actor, Producer, Director] * [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/28/arts/donald-davis-69-actor-in-challenging-roles.html "Donald Davis, 69, Actor in Challenging Roles"], by Mel Gussow, January 28, 1998, in The New York Times. * [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp51307/donald-davis 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. *{{IMDb name | id=0204496 | name=Donald Davis}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Donald}} Category:1928 births Category:1998 deaths Category:Canadian male stage actors Category:Canadian people of British descent Category:Actors from Newmarket, Ontario Category:Male actors from Ontario Category:20th-century Canadian male actors Category:University of Toronto alumni