John Davis (British businessman)

John Davis was born in the London in 1906 to Sidney Myring Davis and Emily Harris.[1][2] He was educated at the City of London School.[3]

Davis became a member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. He was working as an accountant for a Welsh coal and steel company in Birmingham when he met Oscar Deutsch then a leading Birmingham Metal Merchant. In 1938 Deutsch invited Davis to become his accountant of his new business in Birmingham. Deutsch started buying cinemas which became the Odeon Group.

When Deutsch died in 1940 control of the company passed to J. Arthur Rank and he became very close to Rank. Davis became managing director of the Rank Organisation in 1948.[3] He was largely responsible for Rank's consolidation of film production at Pinewood Studios[4] and steered the company away from a financial crisis in 1949[5] and into a stronger financial position by diversifying the group's business.

In 1962, Davis became chairman, succeeding the retiring J. Arthur Rank. Davis was knighted in 1971 and retired from the company as chairman in 1977 to become president. He resigned as president in 1983. He was appointed a CVO in 1985.[3]

Davis married four times (other accounts say six). His wives include:

• Joan Buckingham, married in 1926, with whom he had a son;
• Marion Gavid, married in 1947, with whom he had two daughters, Susan and Janet;
• actress Dinah Sheridan, married in 1954 (marriage dissolved 1965 - applied for a greater settlement in 1966);
• Felicity Rutland in 1976.

He bought a farm in 1944 and operated it until he sold it in 1986. In 1975 he had a public dispute with his deputy, Graham Dowson, after Dowson refused to marry a close friend of Davis' future wife - this resulted in Dowson being fired from Rank and given a pay out of £150,000. He died in Westminster, London on 27 May 1993.[3][6]

Lewis Gilbert said Davis was "a monster" who "made so many enemies" but he always kept his word and never cheated people out of profits or a deal.[7]