Phyllis Davis

Early life

Phyllis Davis was born and raised in Nederland, Texas. She resided at her parents' mortuary business on the second floor. Phyllis attended Lamar University, then went to Los Angeles in the mid-'60s. While in Los Angeles she attended acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Career

Her films include The Big Bounce (1969), Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), Sweet Sugar (1972), Terminal Island (1973), The Day of the Dolphin (1973), The Choirboys (1977), The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch (1982) and Guns (1990).

Davis appeared in guest roles on Love, American Style (1969) for five seasons. Davis also appeared in television series such as Knight Rider; she acted out the role of the villainous Tanya Walker in its pilot installment, "Knight of the Phoenix." She had guest roles in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Magnum, P.I., The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Wild Wild West and was a regular performer in the vignettes in Love, American Style. She was in an episode of Adam-12 titled "You Blew It," in 1969.
She was also a Match Game panelist on occasion and, during her tenure in Vega$, described above and referred to below, appeared on a Battle of the Network Stars special.

As detailed above, Davis was a regular cast member of the series Vega$ from 1978 to 1981 alongside Robert Urich; her character, Beatrice Travis, worked for Urich's Dan Tanna, a Las Vegas-based private investigator, as his secretary in the crime drama.

Later years

Davis was unmarried for all of her life, but was in a long-term relationship with Dean Martin in the 1970s and another relationship with horse jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. in the 1980s.

Davis died of cancer on September 27, 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she had made her home, at the age of 73.