Robert Creel "Brad" Davis

 Robert Creel "Brad" Davis (November 6, 1949 – September 8, 1991)

At 16, after winning a music-talent contest, Davis worked at Theater Atlanta. He later moved to New York City and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, as well as studied acting at the American Place Theater. After a role on the soap opera How to Survive a Marriage, he performed in Off-Broadway plays. In 1976, he was cast in the television mini-series Roots, then as Sally Field's love interest in the television film Sybil. In 1981 he played American track star Jackson Scholz in the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire. He played the lead role in Larry Kramer's play about AIDS, The Normal Heart (1985). His most successful film role was as the main character, Billy Hayes, in Midnight Express (1978), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Acting Debut – Actor. He was also nominated for a similar award at that year's BAFTA Awards, in addition to receiving Best Actor nominations at both ceremonies. Diagnosed with HIV in 1985, Davis kept his condition a secret until shortly before his death by intentional drug overdose on September 8, 1991, in Los Angeles. It was revealed in a book proposal that Davis had written before his death that he had to keep his medical condition a secret in order to be able to continue to work and support his family. As an adult, he was an alcoholic and an intravenous drug user before becoming sober in 1981. Davis is interred at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills.