Like all great poets, legendary '60s scribe Rod McKuen froze his feelings in time when writing about the loss of close friend and Hapeville-born artist Doug Davis.

In his poem "Orly Field," McKuen writes: "I often/Wonder why you ran so fast/If it was all the end at Orly Field that day."

File photo (ENLARGE)
Hapeville-born artist Douglas Davis accompanies French singer Edith Piaf as she arrives at Orly Airport in Paris in 1959. Davis would die three years later in a crash at the airport.
(ENLARGE)
Doug Davis painted this portrait of Edith Piaf for her 'Olympia 1961' album cover.
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Davis' literal brush with international stardom was cut short when the 34-year-old painter perished in the infamous 1962 plane crash at Orly Field near Paris. The disaster claimed the lives of 122 passengers, 106 of them being members of the Atlanta arts community.

Who is he?

Davis was the son of legendary barnstormer Doug Davis Sr., who boasted a pilot's license signed by Orville Wright. When Davis was 6 and already showing a knack for art, his father ironically crashed his plane during a 1935 Ohio air race.

The budding artist went on to study at the Atlanta Art Institute and later at the Sorbonne and Grand Chaumier Academy in France. He moved to France in 1958 and befriended storied French vocalist Edith Piaf. His star began its rise in Paris as his impressionistic portraits caught on with the celebrities of the day. Piaf, Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison, Alice B. Toklas and McKuen were a few of his high-profile subjects.

"Doug always had friends," said cousin Dee Cannon of Marietta. "There were always people around. He'd rather laugh and tell jokes than just about anything. He was just a fun guy and so talented."

Why he's relevant today

Davis' character, played by actor Harry Hadden-Patton, pops up in the Academy Award-winning film "La Vie en Rose," now out on DVD. (Marion Cotillard won this year's Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of Piaf.) His appearance, albeit brief, remains somewhat pivotal as it was Davis who was behind the wheel during a car crash that found Piaf suffering serious injuries. As a close confidant of Piaf's, he designed album covers for the songstress, including the portrait-bearing cover of the "Olympia 1961" release. In a recording studio scene, Davis' character has sketches in hand.

He ties Piaf to Atlanta

Darlene Baker of Newnan, Davis' sister, says the artist brought Piaf to town in 1959. Baker remembers the petite Piaf as extremely frail, her personal assistant giving her medicine every hour on the hour.

"She always told Doug she wanted to see a real peach growing on a tree and pick one," Baker recalled. "And he told her, 'When the peaches get ripe, I'll tell you, and you can come over.' And she came over. We took her down to the peach orchard, and she picked one. That was just her heart's delight."

Piaf returned to Atlanta in 1962 for Davis' funeral.

That's when she presented Baker with a portrait the singer had commissioned from Davis.

It still hangs in Baker's home today.

"She was a lovely person," Baker said.

Davis' legacy

Unfortunately, you have to look hard for Davis' work these days. An import copy of the "Olympia 1961" CD can be found at record stores and online at sites such as Amazon.com.

Davis, a former neighbor of Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy, painted the image of the Seven Dwarfs at the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House, the flagship location of the chicken sandwich chain that opened in 1946. The Dwarfs remain intact.

One of the Sunday school classes at the First Baptist Church of Hapeville still features a mural of Jesus Christ surrounded by a group of children representing different nationalities of the world, an example of one of Davis' earlier works.

Much of Davis' art remains in private collections. And some family members have expressed interest in the possibility of a gallery showing in the future.

On McKuen's Web site (www.mckuen.com), he writes about the surprise arrival of a portrait his friend had painted of him years earlier. A few weeks after a 1971 concert in Holland, he found the painting on his doorstep at his home in California, which was sent by a mutual friend.

"That it came to me from Doug without his knowledge or intent ... means everything," McKuen writes.