Although he was attentive in school, his main goal was to engage in film acting, which he realized after a friend told him about an audition at the Sampaguita Pictures. He did not miss the chance and passed the audition with flying colors. In 1959, he was introduced in Isinumpa, a drama film that also starred Dolphy, and topbilled by Rick Rodrigo and Barbara Perez. Among his most memorable performances were in 1962 film Kaming Mga Talyada, where he played gay with matinee idols the late Juancho Gutierrez and Jose Mari Gonzales, and Trudis Liit with Vilma Santos. Both films were produced by Sampaguita. But lead roles were hard to come by because he was identified with character assignments. Davao's biggest break came when he did Pitong Matahari, a James Bond-type of a film where he played Agent 009 in 1965. Soon after, he was given action roles until he was assigned villain roles again. His other important movies included Palengke Queen with Nora Aunor in 1982; Pedro Tunasan with Lito Lapid in 1983; Get Victor Corpus: The Rebel Soldier with Rudy Fernandez in 1987; The Rape of Virginia P. with Alma Moreno in 1989; Batas Ng. 45 with Fernando Poe, Jr. in 1991 and Volta with Ai Ai de la Alas in 2004. In the 70s, he also starred in several Hollywood co-produced films such as A Fistful of Feathers, Blind Rage, The Last Reunion and Women in Cages where he was billed as Charles Davis. Among his films associated with Mindanao were Bad Boy from Dadiangas, starring then world champ Rolando Navarrete, and Magindanao with Muhammad Faisal, both in 1982. He played the ultimatebad guy, Satan, in the movie The Killing of Satan, starring Ramon Revilla Sr, in 1983. He last appeared on the big screen in 2008 as father of Marian Rivera's character in Desperadas. He started appearing on TV in 1997 with the soap Mula sa Puso with Claudine Barretto for ABS-CBN. His last appearance on ABS-CBN was in 2009 during the Chapter 14 of ABS-CBN's primetime series, May Bukas Pa as Don Carlos, the grandfather of Abby. Davao last appeared on television in GMA shows like Darna and Rosalinda.
Personal life
Davao was married to Emma Marie, a Spanish professor at the St. Theresa's College. They have four children — Bing, Ricky, Mylene and Marielle. Mylene died in an accident when she was 5 years old. Davao remarried to Mary Grace Iñigo when Emma Marie died. They have two children, one of them was former child star Charlon Davao.
