I’m out of town for a few days, and likely posting light, but I had to put in a short “happy birthday” to actor Bruce Davison!

Davison, who has a distinguished air about him that screams, “upper echelon”, is often pegged for roles as academics, doctors or politicians — both good and bad.   He played the evil, mutie-hating Senator Kelly in X-Men, and the do-good philanthropist on the remake of Knight Rider.  He did an excellent, though brief, job as the unstable Dr. Silberman on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and has guest-starred on shows as diverse as Seinfeld, Battlestar Galactica, and Lost.  I’ve always been particularly fond of his role as the increasingly deranged Dr. Stegman on the surprisingly good Stephen King miniseries Kingdom Hospital.

One performance of his, however, has been burned into my brain from long before I knew who he was.   One of his earlier roles was in the made-for-TV movie The Wave (1981), in which he plays high-school teacher Ben Ross, who is apparently turning his students into a new wave of Nazi idealogues.

Best wishes to Davison on his birthday for a long and successful career!