American actor Brad Davis was BOTD in 1949. Born in Tallahassee, Florida, he had a turbulent childhood, later accusing his parents of physical and sexual abuse. After winning a music talent contest at 16, he moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After a series of unremarkable off-Broadway appearances, he rose to greater public attention with roles in TV mini-series Roots and Sybil. He rocketed to stardom in Alan Parker’s 1978 film Midnight Express, based on the true story of Billy Hayes, an American drug dealer condemned to 30 years in a Turkish prison. While the film diluted Hayes’ homosexual prison experiences to a single kiss with a fellow inmate, Davis’ swarthy beauty and frequent nakedness made him an object of queer desire. He had similar success in the 1981 Oscar-winning historical drama Chariots of Fire, playing American track star Jackson Scholz. He married Susan Bluestein in 1976, with whom he had a son. Discreetly bisexual, he was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, keeping his diagnosis a secret, while starring in the original Broadway production of Larry Kramer’s AIDS-themed drama The Normal Heart. He was perfectly cast as a hirsute horny queer sailor in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1982 film Querelle, adapted from Jean Genet’s novel, in which he manfully bottomed during an anal sex scene. He made occasional appearances in film during the 1980s, including Percy Adlon’s comedy Rosalie Goes Shopping and Robert Altman’s Hollywood satire The Player. After years of living with HIV, he committed assisted suicide by drug overdose in 1991. He was 41.