Men Of Character Character Actors
Daniel Davis
Niles The Butler (TV)/ The Nanny
K-9/ Halstead
The Hunt For Red October/ Capt. Davenport
George Washington II: The Forging Of A Nation/ Patrick Henry
Daniel Davis is an American stage, screen and television actor.
He was born at Gurdon, Arkansas in 1945.to parents who ran a movie theater.
Davis was raised in Little Rock and graduated from Hall High School there. He received a Bachelor Of Fine Arts from the Arkansas Arts Center.
His first acting job was at age 11 when he acted in a local radio program. After graduation from college he worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Stratford Shakespeare Festival and six years with the American Conservatory Theater.. At this time he also taught acting as well.
His film debut came in 1970 in Pigeons and his television debut came in 1974 on the series Great Performances.
Though Mr. Davis' did much of his work on television he also did some film work as well.
The film roles of Daniel Davis were:
Pigeons (1970) as Skinny
Chain Letters (1985) as Steve
Blind Justice (1986-TV) as Attorney Seth Thompson
George Washington II: The Forging Of A Nation (1986-TV) as Patrick Henry
The Spirit (1987-TV) as Simon Teasdale
What Price Victory (1988-TV) as Trainer
K-9 (1989) as Halsted
The Hunt For Red October (1990) as Capt. Davenport
Havana (1990) as Marion Chigwell
She Stood Alone (1991) as Parker Ellsworth
The Perfect Tribute (1991-TV) as Gov. Curtin
Palomino (1991-TV) as Doctor
The Prestige (2006) as Judge
Mr. Davis is probably best known as Niles the butler on the TV sitcom The Nanny which ran on prime time from 1993 to 1999.
Other television programs on which he appeared on were Great Performances, Texas, Highway To Heaven, Cagney & Lacey, Remington Steele, The A Team, Cheers, Scarecrow And Mrs. King, Matlock, Tall Tales And Legends, The Equalizer, Frank's Place, Dynasty, MacGyver, Colombo, Civil Wars, L A Law, Murder She Wrote, Star Trek The Next Generation, Remember WENN, Men In Black-The Series, The Practice, Frasier, Ugly Betty and Gotham among others.
Daniel Davis is also an established theater actor having appeared on Broadway as well as in Off Broadway productions.
On Broadway he has appeared as Salieri in Amadeus (1980), Maurice Montesor in Wrong Mountain (2000), Oscar Wilde in The Invention Of Love (2001) and as Georges in La Cage aux Folles in 2004.
He also appeared as George Bernard Shaw in The Frogs in 2004 as well.
Back to his Shakespearian beginnings he assayed the role of Prospero in The Tempest at Hartford Stage in 2012.
Though born and raised in Arkansas, Davis has developed a perfect English accent. His natural accent is that of Southern American. However, many believe that he is actually an Englishman.
I certainly enjoyed him as Niles in The Nanny TV series, but I also enjoyed him in the films The Hunt For Red October, K-9 and George Washington II: The Forging Of A Nation.
Louie The Movie Buff