Brad Davis

Versatile male lead who made a compelling film debut as an American drug-smuggler incarcerated in a Turkish prison in Alan Parker's "Midnight Express" (1978). Davis's relatively sparse screen roles include off-beat gems such as American Olympic runner Jackson Scholz in "Chariots of Fire" (1981); the title character--a gay sailor--in Fassbinder's "Querelle" (1982); and the eccentric pilot in Percy Adlon's "Rosalie Goes Shopping" (1989). A risk-taking stage actor, Davis won acclaim as Ned Weeks, alter ego of playwright and Gay Men's Health Crisis founder Larry Kramer, in Kramer's harrowing AIDS drama "The Normal Heart" (1985). He also starred in Steven Berkoff's avant-garde adaptation of Kafka's "Metamorphosis" at the Mark Taper Forum. Davis, who had been suffering with complications from AIDS, reportedly committed suicide at age 41.