John Davis, Australian science documentary filmmaker, Died at 72

John Andrew Davis was born on July 20, 1954 in Denver, Colorado and died November 7, 2015.

He was known as an Australian science documentary filmmaker for ABC and climber, first person to scale Ball’s Pyramid,

John graduated from Bowdoin College, attended Amherst College and received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

He was chairman of the Los Angeles-based Davis Entertainment, and has been a producer on more than 90 feature films and movies for television.

John interest in cinema started as a youth when his father purchased the neighborhood film theater, where he sold popcorn and subsequently viewed up to 300 films per year.

John many works includes: the sci-fi thriller I, Robot, starring Will Smith; the Jim Carrey starrer Mr. Popper’s Penguins; Norbit, the comedy starring Eddie Murphy for DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures; the blockbuster The Firm, starring Tom Cruise; the two Dr. Dolittle films, starring Eddie Murphy; the Jack Black adventure comedy Gulliver’s Travels; Courage Under Fire, starring Denzel Washington; the Garfield franchise series for Fox; Waterworld, starring Kevin Costner; the Eddie Murphy comedy Daddy Day Care; Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; the Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau trilogy Out to Sea, Grumpy Old Men, and Grumpier Old Men; Behind Enemy Lines, starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman; Predator 2, John Woo’s Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, for Paramount Pictures; and Alien vs. Predator, an action thriller combining the two iconic cinematic aliens, are just a few to mention.

John was a documentary maker who also ran as a candidate for the Greens in the Sydney seat of Davidson in 2011.

He also worked as a producer on the ABC’s Behind The News (BTN) program for many years.

His brothers and sisters are Patricia Davis Raynes, Nancy Davis Rickel, Gregg Davis, and Dana Davis.

John Davis passed away at 72 years old in a helicopter crash.