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Sir John Henry Harris Davis CVO (10 November 1906 – 27 May 1993) was an English businessman and accountant. He was the managing director, later chairman, of the Rank Organisation.

Early life

John Davis was born in London in 1906 to Sidney Myring Davis and Emily Harris. He was educated at the City of London School.

Career

Davis became a member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. He was working as an accountant for a Welsh coal and steel company in Birmingham when he met Oscar Deutsch, a leading metal merchant based in the city who had begun to diversify into cinema ownership. In 1938 Deutsch invited Davis to become accountant for Odeon Cinemas, which by 1936 had become the fourth largest cinema circuit in the country.

When Deutsch died in 1940 control of the company passed to J. Arthur Rank and he became very close to Rank. Davis became managing director of the Rank Organisation in 1948. He was largely responsible for Rank's consolidation of film production at Pinewood Studios and steered the company away from a financial crisis in 1949 and into a stronger financial position by diversifying the group's business.

According to a 1952 book about Rank by Alan Wood:

John Davis cannot be called a popular figure in the film industry. “He does not understand people,” I have heard it said, “and people do not understand him.” He suffered from the jealousy and envy which always accompanies spectacular success; and from the resentment of men who had been in the forces during the war and came back to find him on top. Full allowance must be made, too, for the fact that Davis was obliged to do things which were bound to make him unpopular... Many puzzled guesses were made as to the reason why Rank gave such power to a man so different from himself in so many ways.

Wood went on to say "It is hard to imagine that anyone else could have matched the achievement of John Davis in straightening out and cutting down in the days when the Rank Organisation faced disaster."

In 1956 Davis arranged for Rank to buy stock in U.S. Haloid Co., which became Xerox Co. This turned into a financial bonanza for Rank.

In 1962, Davis became chairman, succeeding the retiring J. Arthur Rank. Davis was knighted in 1971 and retired from the company as chairman in 1977 to become president. He resigned as president in 1983. He was appointed a CVO in 1985.

Personal life

Davis married at least four times (some accounts say six). His wives include:

• Joan Buckingham, married in 1926, with whom he had a son;
• Marion Gavid, married in 1947, with whom he had two daughters, Susan and Janet;
• actress Dinah Sheridan, married in 1954 (marriage dissolved 1965 - applied for a greater settlement in 1966);
• Felicity Rutland in 1976.

He bought a farm in 1944 and operated it until he sold it in 1986. In 1975 he had a public dispute with his deputy, Graham Dowson, after Dowson refused to marry a close friend of Davis' future wife - this resulted in Dowson being fired from Rank and given a pay out of £150,000. He died in Westminster, London on 27 May 1993.

Legacy

Film scholars have recognised the character of the producer, "Don Jarvis" (Michael Goodliffe), in Peeping Tom (1960) as a caricature of Davis, who had clashed with director Michael Powell. Jarvis's main concern is to limit the budgets of the low-quality films he turns out.

Lewis Gilbert said Davis was "a monster" who "made so many enemies" but he always kept his word and never cheated people out of profits or a deal. Alan Wood wrote, "All descriptions of him agree on two points. Firstly, his complete grasp of organisation as a brilliant administrator; secondly, his rudeness."

References

1. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975
2. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007
3. ^ Clement, John (1 July 1993). "Obituary: Sir John Davis". The Independent. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
4. ^ "Davis, Sir John Henry Harris". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51825. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. ^ "Sir John Davis". The Daily Telegraph. No. 42901. 29 May 1993. p. 19.
6. ^ "Deutsch, Oscar". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/46878. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
7. McFarlane, Brian, ed. (2003). The Encyclopedia of British Film. London: Methuen/BFI. p. 164. Online at: McFarlane, Brian (2003–14). "Davis, John (1906-1993)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
8. Warren, Patricia (2001). British Film Studios: An Illustrated History. London: B.T. Batsford. p. 120.
9. Wood p 242
10. Wood p 243
11. "CORPORATIONS: Of Board Rooms And Bedrooms". Time. 6 October 1975.
12. "Sir John Davis". The Times. No. 64657. 29 May 1993. p. 17.
13. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995
14. Salwolke, Scott (1997). The Films of Michael Powell and the Archers. Lanham, Maryland; London: Scarecrow Press. p. 221. ISBN 0-8108-3183-X.
15. "Peeping Tom (1960)". Screenonline. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
16. Walden, Kiri Bloom (2020). Peeping Tom. Oxford: Liverpool University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-1-80034-606-2.
17. Fowler, Roy (1996). "Lewis Gilbert Side 6". British Entertainment History Project.
18. Wood p 243

Notes

• Wood, Alan (1952). Mr Rank a Study of J Arthur Rank.

• 1906 births
• 1993 deaths
• Businesspeople awarded knighthoods
• Knights Bachelor
• People educated at the City of London School
• People from the City of London
• 20th-century English businesspeople
• British film studio executives