Bruce Davis, 83, Went From Teaching Theater to Running the Oscars
Bruce Davis, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ CEO for most of the 22 years of the total 30 years he was there, who left a deep mark on the Hollywood industry and the world of filmmakers, died at 83. Davis died Saturday night following a protracted battle with leukemia, as his wife Joann told The Hollywood Reporter.
Originally from Washington, D.C., born on March 10, 1941, Davis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Juniata College, Pennsylvania, and later, a master’s in Medieval Literature from the University of Maryland. At first, he was aiming to become a professor, which he did at Juniata, where he was very successful and even eventually became the chairman of the theater department. In view of that, he decided in the early 70’s, to move from Pennsylvania to LA, where he first landed as a screenwriter. Shortly after he arrived and was invited to a party, he met a lady who was the wife of an Academy worker at that time.This introduced him to the Academy and eventually led to his employment there, as within the same months, he was asked to organize seminars and lectures for the organization.
The Executive Who Modernized The Oscars Organization
In 1983, Davis attained the position of executive administrator with a duty to look after the Academy’s library, archives, and public programming. Then, in 1989, he became the executive director for the whole organization and took over from Jim Roberts, who had filled the position of director from 1971.
During several subsequent decades of Academy leadership changes, with six presidents, he was in charge of the everyday business, and he grew personnel from 75 to 200-plus. He also ran big projects such as the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library moving to Beverly Hills Waterworks in 1991 and the Academy’s film archive at the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study. The latter opened in 2002. His constant endeavors to gain financial backing for an academy museum were hindered by the Great Recession.
Bruce Davis, Longtime Academy CEO, Dies At 83
After announcing in 2010 to the board of governors his decision to retire at the end of the fiscal year 2010-11, Davis shared the news with Academy staff via a memo of his intentions: “When I leave, it will have been 30 years at the Academy, and I will be in my position for more than two decades. I think that I will have earned a change. As organizations and individuals, change of view is one of the main sources of improvement.” Dawn Hudson took over from Davis and served until 2022, when Bill Kramer, who is the current CEO, was appointed.
In his retirement years, Davis continued to have an office at Pickford Center and often went to Herrick Library to do research work on a history of the organization. A book by Brandeis University Press published in 2022 entitled The Academy and the Award: The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Other parts of the book explain who coined the nickname “Oscar,” the Academy Award, the one of which the book got quite close.
Bruce Davis, Who Led The Academy 22 Years, Dies At 83
Ric Robertson, who first succeeded Davis as Head Executive Director of the Academy in 1989 and later was his number 1 assistant until Davis’ retirement. “BRUCE was a great man, a great leader, a great teacher, and a great friend,” he says to THR.
Together with Bill Kramer, the Academy President, and Lynette Howell Taylor, they released an official statement: “We are really, really sad that Bruce Davis is no longer with us. For 22 years, Bruce was the Academy Executive Director, and he has guided our association all that time. He made sure that Academy history has remained intact. He set new standards by creating specific locations for our film archives and library to reside, and he was responsible for the revival of the idea of building a museum. He had a very special connection with the Academy. We all wish Bruce’s family to have peace and comfort in the hardest circumstances.”
Bruce Davis, Longtime Oscars Chief and Historian
The night before retiring in 2011, Davis confessed in his exclusive interview with the Associated Press, “I have never been remotely close to getting bored here in 30 years. I am quite the innocent guy, so to speak, sometimes. That carpet of the awards ceremony is not far from me these days, and it’s still like that rush of getting back to one’s roots. You see the fireworks going off, but, of course, not a single person’s trying to hit me. In my opinion, one cannot get more exhilarating in this regard than feeling that sort of rush; to put it nicely, that one gets to feel at that level of happiness and emotions! It’s just me against that, and the thought has never even occurred to me!” Besides his wife, he is survived by their daughters, Brangien, Alexandra, Archer, and Roxanne, who were all present during his last moments.
