Gwen Davis

Davis was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in New York City, in Manhattan. Her parents were divorced. Her father, real estate developer Lew Davis, later served as mayor of Tucson, winning office in 1961. Her parents' separation when she was five affected her the rest of her life. She attended Bryn Mawr College. She scripted a famous movie, What a Way to Go, and wrote a play produced on Broadway, The Best Laid Plans. Davis continued to write. She traveled widely and has lived in Spain, Paris, Rome, London, Venice, New York and Hollywood. She has returned from living in Bali, Indonesia and was living between New York, and Beverly Hills. ==Touching lawsuits ==

Touching (1971) was not a bestselling novel, but resulted in controversial lawsuits. Davis spent twenty hours at Sandstone, a Topanga Canyon therapy center run by E. Paul Bindrim, known as the "father of Nude Psychotherapy". Bindrim, once nearly kicked out of the American Psychological Association, was known for holding what he called "nude marathons"—several clients were "placed in a warm pool for long sessions of touching and massaging, talking and sometimes shouting or acting out rage". After the novel was published, Bindrim sued Davis and Doubleday & Company for libel, on the grounds that it had defamed him. Davis claimed she had used her real-life experiences to inspire fiction, but that Bindrim was not the psychologist in her fictional story, and did not resemble him—the character she depicted was overweight, looked like Santa Claus, and had a Ph.D. When the case came to trial, Bindrim, who had previously been bald and clean shaven, and who held only a master's degree, had by then gained weight, grown a white beard, and been granted a Ph.D. from International College in Westwood, California. (Founded in 1970, International College claimed it had "no classrooms, no lecture halls, no resident faculty." An unaccredited institution, it is now out of existence.) These changes made him appear like the psychologist in the book. He won his lawsuit against Davis and her publisher, Doubleday. Eventually, Davis settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. == Bibliography ==

• "Desperate Intruder," 1983 (TV) • "Better Late Than Never," 1982 • "What a Way to Go!," 1964 ==Television and film roles and appearances==

Davis appeared in Rich and Famous, 1981, as a party guest. She was interviewed many times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1971–1972, and on David Frost and the Virginia Graham Show. ==References==