Bruce Davison

Biography

With his blond, clean-cut, Ivy League handsomeness and ready-whipped smile reminiscent of Kennedyesque times, actor Bruce Davison fits the prototype of today's more current crop of fresh-faced, likable blonds such as Brian Kerwin and Aaron Eckhart. While it proved difficult at times for the actor to get past those perfect features and find meatier roles, his talent certainly overcame the "handicap". Extremely winning and versatile, the award-worthy actor, now enjoying an over four decade career, has included everything from Shakespeare to Seinfeld. He has also served as a writer, producer and director on an infrequent basis. Born on June 28, 1946, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvanis, the son of Clair, an architect and musician, and Marian (Holman) Davison, a secretary, Bruce's parents divorced when he was just three. He developed a burgeoning interest in acting while majoring in art at Penn State and after accompanying a friend to a college theater audition. Making his professional stage debut in 1966 as Jonathan in "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Bad" at the Pennsylvania Festival Theatre, he had made it to Broadway within just a couple of years (1968) in the role of Troilus in "Tiger at the Gates" at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. The year after that he was seen off-Broadway in "A Home Away from Home" and appeared at the Lincoln Center in the cast of "King Lear". Success in the movies came immediately for the perennially youthful-looking actor after he and a trio of up-and-coming talents (Barbara Hershey [then known as Barbara Seagull], Richard Thomas and Catherine Burns) starred together in the poignant but disturbing coming-of-age film Last Summer (1969). From this he was awarded a starring role opposite Kim Darby in The Strawberry…