Marvin Davis

At 79 years old, Marvin Davis physical status not available right now. We will update Marvin Davis's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Marvin H. Davis, a British industrialist, died on August 31, 1925 – September 25, 2004) was an American industrialist.

He made his fortunes as the chair of Davis Petroleum and the Pebble Beach Corporation, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the Aspen Skiing Company at one time.

Early life and education

Marvin Davis was born in a Jewish family, as the son of Jack Davis and Jean Spitzer. Joan, his younger sister, was born 1929.

His father immigrated from London as a young boy in 1917 and later joined the British Navy after reportedly applying for a college scholarship but being refused because he was Jewish. Jack Davis became a top fashion buyer for New York department stores. He founded the Davis Oil Company in 1939 with Ray Ryan, the Ryan Oil Company's president, and he and him formed the Ryan Oil Company.

In 1947, Marvin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from New York University.

Personal life

Marvin Davis was married to Barbara Levine for 53 years. They had five children as of November 2005 and fourteen grandchildren: as of November 2005, they had fourteen grandchildren.

Aaron Spelling closely based the "Carrington" characters of his hit TV series Dynasty on the Davises, as well as filming an episode at their Colorado home.

While on vacation in the south of France, Davis and his wife were robbed of $10 million and $50,000 cash by masked gunmen.

The Davises bought The Knoll, a 45,000-square-foot house in Beverly Hills from Kenny Rogers. The Davises gained notoriety for their Christmas parties.

Davis is laid to rest in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

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20th Century Fox and later career

In 1981, Davis acquired 20th Century Fox for $722 million with financier Marc Rich. Fox's assets included Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Aspen Skiing Company, and a Century City property upon which he built and twice sold Fox Plaza, which was made famous as the "Nakatomi building" in the original Die Hard film. While Davis was head of 20th Century Fox, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, complained to him about excessive sexuality in films. Reagan suggested to Davis that he produce films that implied, instead of showing, sex, in the style of director Ernst Lubitsch. In 1984 Davis appointed Barry Diller, formerly chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Pictures, to the chairman and CEO role at 20th Century Fox. Diller asked Davis for complete control, with Davis promising to provide financing for the studio. Fox's financial situation was precarious, with the company owing $600 million. Banks would not provide any extension to the loan, and Diller pressed Davis for the new equity he had promised to put into Fox. Diller claims that Davis stalled and suggested that Diller call Michael Milken for a $250 million junk-bond loan, which would have been Diller's, not Davis', responsibility.

By 1985, Rich was in Switzerland during an indictment that was filed against him by the United States due to his violation of sanctions against his commodity trades with Iran. Marc Rich had arranged with Davis for Davis to buy out his interest in 20th Century Fox for $116 million. Davis sold this interest to Rupert Murdoch for $250 million in March 1984. Davis later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchase John Kluge's Metromedia television stations, which would form what is now the Fox network. Murdoch went alone and bought the studios, and later bought out Davis remaining stake in 20th Century Fox for $325 million. Davis sold Pebble Beach to Japanese businessman Minoru Isutani for $841 million in 1990. Winning a bidding war against the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, Davis bought the Beverly Hills Hotel for $135 million in 1986. Davis later sold the hotel to the sultan for a $65 million profit.

In 1999, Davis attempted to build a stadium in Los Angeles to lure the National Football League to award the city an expansion franchise during a 20 year span (1995-2015) when the NFL was absent from Los Angeles. The expansion team ultimately went to Houston and became the Houston Texans, who began play in 2002.

In later years, Davis was linked to takeover targets including Northwest Airlines, US Airways, CBS, NBC and T. Boone Pickens' Mesa. A proponent of greenmail, the threatening of takeover bids that never come to pass, Davis said "All you have to do is look at the pretty girl and everyone thinks you're sleeping with her. You don't have to put up any money". In 2002 a deal that was structured by Ramy El-Batrawi, Davis made an unsolicited $15 billion bid for the entertainment assets of Vivendi.

The Denver Broncos National Football League team was targeted by failed takeover bids from Davis.

Davis's eldest daughter, Patricia Davis Raynes, sued her four siblings, her mother, and several of the family's advisers, alleging that they had all helped her father to systematically steal her trust fund before his death. Her lawsuit alleged that Marvin had entrapped and beaten Patricia in an attempt to get her to sign documents giving him control over her finances. Patricia Davis later settled with all 14 parties named in her complaint, and the case was closed in January 2008. By the conclusion of Patricia Davis' case, sister Nancy Davis had taken her brother Gregg to court over the sale of Davis Petroleum, in March 2006.

Nancy Davis alleged that her brother and his partners vastly undervalued the company and thereby denied her (and her mother and siblings) of as much as $50 million in proceeds. Lawyers for Gregg Davis deny the allegations. The Texas bankruptcy court that had originally approved the deal to sell Davis Petroleum ruled in favor of Gregg and his partners, then a district-court judge dismissed Nancy's appeal. As of 2009 the case had bounced back to the bankruptcy court.

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