Biography

Davis was born in Gurdon, Arkansas, and grew up in Little Rock. His parents operated a movie theater. His first acting job was at the age of 11, when he was cast in a local broadcast program called Betty's Little Rascals. Davis graduated from Hall High School in Little Rock in 1963. He graduated from the Arkansas Arts Center with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, followed by work with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and six years with the American Conservatory Theatre. During his time at ACT, he also taught acting.

Career

Davis first became popular in daytime television playing opposite Beverlee McKinsey as her character Iris Cory's former (and presumed dead) husband, Elliot Carrington, on the soap opera Texas, a spin-off of Another World, from October 1980 through December 1981. In 1985, he played a renegade soldier in the Season 4 episode of the television series The A-Team "The Doctor is Out".

Davis played his most famous character, Niles the butler on the television series The Nanny, throughout its run from 1993 to 1999 and in its reunion special in 2004 (in cameo flashbacks only). Niles was known for his frequent use of deadpan one-liners, usually insulting character C.C. Babcock, whom Niles eventually fell in love with and married in the series' last season.

Davis' natural accent is Southern American; however, his English accent as Niles was so accurate that many viewers have been convinced that Davis actually is English. He also used an English accent as Professor Moriarty in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle." However, as the Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October, Davis spoke with his own American accent. Davis' voice role for Longhair uses a British accent.

In 2000, Davis was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award for his role in David Hirson's Broadway play Wrong Mountain. In 2003, he appeared in the Alan Bennett play Talking Heads. In 2004, he portrayed George Bernard Shaw in the Stephen Sondheim musical The Frogs. He co-starred in La Cage Aux Folles with Gary Beach from November 2004 to March 2005. (Reportedly, he clashed frequently with Beach and others. He was eventually replaced by Robert Goulet.)

In 2002, Davis guest-starred on the television series Frasier, playing Dr. Shafer in Season 10, Episode 8, "Rooms with a View".

Davis was among the group of celebrities lip-synching to The Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive on the Idol Gives Back episode of American Idol on April 25, 2007. He appeared briefly in the 2006 film The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan.

In July 2008, Davis portrayed King Lear at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, under the direction of Bonnie J. Monte. That year he also guest-starred on the television series Ugly Betty.

In November 2010, Davis was part of the Celebrity Autobiography series at the Long Center in Austin, Texas. He performed along with fellow Nanny alum Lauren Lane and Ugly Betty alum Michael Urie.

In December 2010, he guested on The Fran Drescher Show through Skype.

In 2012, he recorded the audiobook of the Star Wars novel Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, by James Luceno.

Theatre

Davis is an established theatre actor. He has appeared in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions in New York, and has appeared at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Off-Broadway, he played Rubin in Lake No Bottom in 1990, the Duke of Buckingham in The Tragedy of Richard III, Graham in the Alan Bennett monologue "A Chip in the Sugar" for the series Talking Heads in 2003, and he starred as Gaev in The Cherry Orchard in 2011.

On Broadway, he played Antonio Salieri in Amadeus in 1980, Maurice Montesor in Wrong Mountain in 2000, Oscar Wilde in The Invention of Love in 2001, Georges in La Cage aux Folles in 2004, George Bernard Shaw in The Frogs, also in 2004.

In 2012, he played Prospero in The Tempest at Hartford Stage.

He can now be seen on Broadway as Selsdon Mowbray in the Roundabout Theatre revival of "Noises Off" at the American Airlines Theatre. This production will run until 13th March, 2016 when it closes.

Filmography

• Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker	Skinny	Uncredited
1985	Chain Letters	Steve
1986	Blind Justice	Attorney Seth Thompson
1989	K-9	Halstead
1990	The Hunt for Red October	Captain Davenport
1990	Havana	Marion Chigwell
2005	Thru the Moebius Strip	Arthur (voice)
2006	The Prestige	Judge

• TV

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Hardcastle and McCormick	Joe Kello	Episode: "The Day the Music Died"
1980-81	Texas	Eliot Carrington
1986	Cheers	Mr. Reinhardt	Episode: "The Peterson Principle"
1984	Highway to Heaven	Lance Gaylord	Episode: "Catch a Falling Star"
1985	Remington Steele	Pierre Fumar	Episode: "Gourmet Steele"
1986	Matlock	James Billings	Episode: "The Professor"
1985	Scarecrow and Mrs King	Robert Castille	Episode: "Vigilante Mothers"
1986	Scarecrow and Mrs King	Tony Martinet	Episode: "All the World's a Stage"
1988	Dirty Dancing		1 Episode
1989	MacGyver	Mr. Helman	Episode: "Halloween Knights"
1992	Murder, She Wrote	Neal Dishman	Episode: "Badge of Honor"
1992	Columbo	Wedding photographer	Episode: "No Time to Die"
1993-99	The Nanny	Niles	145 episodes
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Professor James Moriarty	Episodes: "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle"
	The Practice	Judge Barton Wolfe
2000	Longhair and Doubledome	Longhair	Failed pilot; voice only
2010	The Fran Drescher Show	Himself	Guest
2015	Gotham	Jacob Skolimski	Episode: "Under the Knife"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]