Affable journalist loved by movie stars
DODGING bullets in war-torn Congo or trekking into the Andes to confront a master criminal were tough enough.
But interviewing legendary Hollywood firebrand Bette Davis was a real challenge.
When Daily Express chief showbusiness writer Vic Davis told a studio boss he was having lunch with the fearsome grande dame of the silver screen, the executive snapped back: “No, you ARE lunch!”
Undaunted, Davis stepped into the lioness’s den and tamed her over plates of cold chicken salad. “She flourished the knife as if she was squaring up for one of her famous fights with the Warner brothers,” he wrote.
By the end of the meeting in 1977, the Oscar winner was completely won over by Davis and spoke freely about her life and work.
His secret was his charm, professionalism and ability to inspire trust, say friends and rivals.
Harvey Mann, formerly of the Daily Mail and a long-time friend, recalled: “Stars such as Sean Connery took to him immediately. Everyone talked to Vic.
“There was a slight Del Boy manner about him. He was always very affable. He didn’t blanch at anything and he had a really wicked sense of humour.”
Born in the Elephant and Castle, south London, in 1929, Davis left school at 15 to become a copy boy at Express Newspapers.
After a stint on a local paper, he began his stellar Fleet Street career on the Daily Sketch in 1956.
Four years later, he joined the Daily Express as a general reporter and was soon sent to cover the fighting in the Congo that flared up after Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was deposed and imprisoned.
He spent the late 1960s based in the New York bureau before returning to London for the role that would make his name.
“He had boxes and boxes of voice tapes of his interviews with the stars such as Robert Mitchum, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster,” said Mann. “He would have one-to-one interviews with all of them.”
The tapes are now a prized archive at the Cardiff School of Journalism.
In the mid 1980s, Davis joined the Mail on Sunday and later wrote several novels.
Twice married, he died at his west London home where he’d been living with a carer since the death of his second wife Janice four years ago.