Bruce Davison (born June 28, 1946) is an American actor who has appeared in more than 270 films, television and stage productions since his debut in 1968. His breakthrough role was as Willard Stiles in the 1971 cult horror film Willard. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and won a Golden Globe Award and an Independent Spirit Award for his performance in Longtime Companion (1989).
Davison is also known for his roles as George Henderson on the television sitcom Harry and the Hendersons (1991–93), Captain Wyler on the crime drama series Hunter (1985–89), Howard Finnegan in Robert Altman's Short Cuts, Reverend Samuel Parris in the 1996 film adaptation of The Crucible, and as Senator Robert Kelly in the superhero films X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003). He is both a Daytime Emmy and a Primetime Emmy Award nominee.
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Early life
Davison was born in 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents divorced when he was three years old. He was raised by his mother and spent weekends with his father.
He graduated in 1964 from Marple Newtown Senior High School, entered Penn State as an art major, and then stumbled into acting when he accompanied a friend to an audition. He attended New York University's acting program, graduating in 1969.
Career
Davison made his Broadway debut in Tiger at the Gates in 1968. He also appeared as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, and starred in The Glass Menagerie with Jessica Tandy. Davison was one of a quartet of newcomers, including Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas, and Catherine Burns, when he made his film debut in Last Summer in 1969. In 1970, he played opposite Kim Darby in The Strawberry Statement, a film about peaceful student protest and its violent outcome. A year later he portrayed the title role in the 1971 version of Willard, based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks. He also appeared in Ulzana's Raid; Peege; Mame; Mother, Jugs & Speed; Short Eyes; The Lathe of Heaven and Six Degrees of Separation.
Davison was an uncredited extra in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). He recalled, "Steven Spielberg was a great friend, although I never got to work with him, except for playing an extra in Close Encounters of the Third Kind because we were friends. I got off the mothership as one of the pilots."
Davison has worked extensively in television. In 1973, he played the brother of a crippled Natalie Wood in the made-for-TV movie The Affair on ABC. In 1978, Davison appeared as Dean Torrence with Richard Hatch in the biopic Deadman's Curve (the story of 1960s pop duo Jan & Dean). The same year, he played the title role in the television film adaptation Summer of My German Soldier.
In 1981, he had the lead role in The Wave based on real events, starring as a history teacher who had conducted an experiment in Nazi philosophy on his own students.
Davison also starred in Tales from the Darkside (Season 1, Episode 8) and played the role of the father in the short-lived Harry and the Hendersons TV series.
In 1983, Davison was cast by Joseph Papp in the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival production of King Richard III. Additional Off-Broadway credits include Love Letters, The Cocktail Hour and Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive. He also played the role of Ruby in the 1985 comedy Spies Like Us, starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase.
Personal life
From 1969 to 1971, Davison had an unpublicized affair with married actress Sondra Locke. In 2017, one year before Locke's death, Davison acknowledged their affair on the DVD commentary for Willard.
Davison has been married three times and has two children. He married actress Jess Walton on May 20, 1972, but the marriage was annulled in March 1973. He was engaged to actress Karen Austin. He has a son from his marriage to actress Lisa Pelikan. They were married from July 4, 1986 until their divorce in April 2006. Davison and Michele Correy married on April 30, 2006. They have a daughter, and reside in Woodland Hills, California.