Friday, June 26, 2015

Not Such a Bad Guy, Crooner Robert Davi…Day 177 of Bond 365



Robert Davi in concert (2013, Wiki - Nancy Knapp)
Robert Davi
Born this day in 1951
Franz Sanchez in Licence to Kill

Robert Davi was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City. Originally, he trained to be an opera singer, but sadly he damaged his voice. I think though that it was ultimately fortuitous that he studied acting at the Hofstra University and then studied with acting coaches, Stella Adler and later Lee Strasberg.

Davi got his first acting part in the Frank Sinatra tv film, Contract on Cherry Street (1977) in which he played Mickey Sinardos. From there, Davi worked in both television and on the big screen, playing several memorable parts: bad guy Jake in The Goonies (1985), as FBI Special Agent Big Johnson in Die Hard (1988), as Det. Sean McKinney in Maniac Cop 2 (1990) and Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence (1993), and strip club owner Al Torres in Showgirls (1995).  He currently has eight projects in the works and has almost 140 acting credits to his name. He has the distinction of working on three well-known franchises: Bond, Pink Panther, and Stargate Atlantis. Davi has even voice acted some video games!

I met Robert Davi at a Hollywood Collector’s Show that hosted a Bond reunion. There were probably about 20 Bond alumns and Davi was one of the guests. All of the Bond alumns were fantastic. They were friendly, engaging, interested. And Davi was probably one of the warmest of the group. When we met him at this particular show, he was touring. We were not aware that he was a singer – a crooner in the vein of Frank Sinatra – and he had his CDs (Davi Sings Sinatra – On the Road to Romance) on his table. After chatting with him, getting his autograph in my James Bond Archives (Taschen), a photo op, and then he signed one of his CDs and gave it to us! And, you know what? He can really sing and has a wonderful voice! It’s actually one of my favorite CDs for that style of music.



© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.