Robert Creel Davis, known professionally as Brad Davis, was an American actor. For his debut film role as Billy Hayes in the 1978 film Midnight Express, he won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor and was nominated for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, along with BAFTA Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.

Midnight Express is a 1978 prison drama film directed by Alan Parker and adapted by Oliver Stone from Billy Hayes's 1977 memoir of the same name. The film centers on Hayes, a young American student, who is sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of the country. The film's title is prison slang for his escape attempt. The cast also features Irene Miracle, John Hurt, Bo Hopkins, Paul L. Smith and Randy Quaid.