Better in Black

“I could never be out of work playing villains,” says Robert Davi, who plays James Bond’s latest nemesis in “Licence to Kill.” And indeed he hasn’t.

For 10 years, Davi has been up to no good in “Goonies,” “Raw Deal,” “Hill Street Blues” and “The Gangster Chronicles.” Now, he may become everybody’s favorite bad guy, as Franz Sanchez, the coolly lethal international drug king who turns Agent 007 into an off-duty vigilante in “Licence to Kill.”

Davi thinks this villain may make him a hero. After all, some of the greatest stars of the big screen--Humphrey Bogart, Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, Spencer Tracy--began their careers in black suits.

“Back in the 1940s and 1950s, there were Tyrone Power and Montgomery Clift, but there was also Robert Mitchum,” Davi said. “Those very male roles are lacking today in films. James Woods is a terrific actor, but he has that problem. Our leading men now are Kevin Costner and Mark Harmon. I don’t want to take anything away from these boys, but where are the men?”

The 6-foot-2, 198-pound Davi said he’d like to stir audiences with a few love scenes, too, but “Hollywood can’t see me taking Jane Fonda in my arms unless I put a gun to her head first.”

Veteran James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli saw the 36-year-old Davi in the CBS-TV movie “Terrorist on Trial” and offered him the plum role of Sanchez.

“Sanchez is really the second lead,” Davi said. “The part is so strong and multi-textured that he and Bond could almost change hats. I think there should be a seductiveness about the villain. He appeals to the fantasy part of a lot of people’s imaginations.”

Davi never envisioned a career of villainy when he was a kid attending Catholic school in Long Island. Opera was one of his early interests, but he switched to drama at Hofstra University and later studied under Stella Adler at the Actors Studio in New York.

Davi made his first break by ignoring his agent and showing up on the set of the Frank Sinatra TV movie “Contract on Cherry Street.”

“My agent said it was all cast, but I didn’t believe it,” Davi said. “So, I went up to the studio, got through security, found the producer’s office and stood in the doorway. I was very polite. I said to the secretary, ‘I just want to find out for myself if this movie is all cast.’ ”

The secretary asked for a photo and resume and Davi was called back the next day to audition. He got the part, that of a hit man, and has been harassing people on screen ever since.

“After this Bond film, I’m going to be walking on eggshells making the transition,” said Davi, who plays a bad guy in a coming episode of “Wise Guy” and--surprise--a good cop in an independent film titled “Deceptions.”

“I don’t want to play a lifetime of villains,” he said. “It’s not what I am or what I want to say to the world. I want to do my ‘Maltese Falcon.’ I want to give Romeo an edge.”