Spoiler : (birth name was Raiford Chatman Davis) Born in Cogdell, Georgia 12/18/1917; died 2/4/2005 in Miami Beach, Florida. At time of death, cause was not reported, as Davis was found dead in his Shore Club hotel room. On 5/30/2005, Broadway lights dimmed in honor of his passing. He lived in New Rochelle, New York at the time of his death. Married to actress Ruby Dee (1948-2005 his death). Davis was a baritone-voiced actor, director, writer and civil rights activist whose commitment to teaching lessons of black history added depth to a distinguished career that ranged from the Broadway stage to the films of Spike Lee.

Spoiler : He was offered two scholarships to attend college at Savannah Stage College and the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, but had to turn them down as he couldn't afford to pay his part. He lived with relatives in Washington, D.C. while he attended Howard University where his interest in theater was encouraged by poet Sterling Brown and philosopher Alain LeRoy Locke, both leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance, the cultural movement of the 1920s and 1930s that celebrated black consciousness in the arts. Locke urged Davis to spend a summer working for a Harlem theater company that produced plays by, for and about blacks. Going to Harlem struck Davis as such a wonderful idea, that he left Howard in 1939 without his degree to act with the Rose McClendon Players. Dick Campbell ran the company, was so impressed with Davis' deep voice and dignified manner, so he cast him as a minister in the next play. Davis served in the US Army during WWII, first in Liberia where he served at the Army's first black station hospital, then was transferred to Special Services where he wrote and produced stage plays for troops in Europe. He returned to civilian life in 1945, a veteran that was shocked by the Nazis' treatment of Jews, and frustrated by the inequities he saw in the Army. He made his Broadway debut in the 1946 production of Jeb, a Robert Ardrey play about a disabled black veteran who attracts the ire of the Ku Klux Klan when his old plantation boss puts him to work not in the field, but in the office as a bookkeeper.

Spoiler : Screen debut was playing John Brooks in No Way Out (1950). Last movie was playing Marvin Jeffries in Retirement, which was slated for release in 2006, was in post-production at time of his death. Davis had filmed two scenes for the movie when he died. Named to NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in 1989. National Medal of the Arts in 1995. Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievements in the arts in 2004.

Spoiler : Television actor on many programs from the middle 1950s to 2004, including Kraft Television Theatre for NBC (1955); John Brown's Raid for NBC (1960); at least seven times on The Defenders for CBS (1961-1965). Writer of episodes for Eastside, Westside on CBS-TV (1963-1964). Davis and his wife, Ruby Dee hosted the PBS-TV program, Ossie And Ruby which presented works of African- American artists (1980-1981). Oz Jackson on B.L. Stryker for ABC-TV (1989-1990). Ponder Blue on Evening Shade for CBS-TV (1990-1994). Judge Harry Roosevelt on The Client for CBS-TV (1995). Narrator for VH-1 Legends on the VH-1 Channel (1996). Erasmus Jones on Promised Land for CBS-TV (1996-1998).