{"id":413526,"date":"2026-09-29T06:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T06:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413526\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T06:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T06:38:16","slug":"die-hard-actor-robert-davi-reveals-last-straw-that-drove-him-from-california-to-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413526\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Die Hard’ actor Robert Davi reveals ‘last straw’ that drove him from California to Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

While veteran actor, singer and filmmaker Robert Davi <\/a>has long been an outspoken critic of California\u2019s political leadership, its current policies and Hollywood\u2019s cultural direction, he never really saw himself leaving the Golden State.<\/p>\n

The 75-year-old character actor, known for playing iconic tough guys in films like \u201cThe Goonies\u201d and \u201cDie Hard,\u201d as well as a James Bond villain in \u201cLicense to Kill,\u201d may have been born and raised in a tight-knit Italian family in Queens, New York but Los Angeles became his adopted home in 1977.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like many others before and after him, he headed west to the Golden State when his on-screen career began to take off, and he grew accustomed to the California lifestyle.<\/p>\n

But for Davi, who has also been vocal about what he sees as a political blacklist <\/a>in Hollywood because of his support for President Donald Trump, <\/a>there were multiple breaking points that he said ultimately led him to sell his home and leave the state for Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This January will mark four years since he and his family joined other Californians who left for the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overwhelming influx of homelessness <\/a>in all communities, the political corruption and the waste of money by the local education agencies in Los Angeles that\u2019s not used for students but for administration costs, and most of that goes to the political party of their choice, and the mismanagement of the LA fires were all [contributing] factors,\u201d Davi told Fox News Digital<\/p>\n

Robert Davi attends the \u201cDiamond\u201d screening during the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. WireImage<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first came to LA, I could go to CVS and it was fine. I could go to a store. It was fine. Now they have gates, they have guards and items are behind lock and key because of the rampant crime,\u201d Davi added, noting, \u201cIt\u2019s about people coming in and the acceptable aspect of going into any store and ripping off what they want and not being stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, like many who fall in love with California\u2019s weather and relaxed lifestyle, Davi hung on to the home he loved, hoping what he saw as rising crime and political dysfunction might somehow improve.<\/p>\n

But it was the Dec. 1, 2021, home invasion and killing of Jacqueline Avant \u2014 the wife of Grammy-winning music executive Clarence Avant \u2014 at her Beverly Hills home that became the last straw for Davi.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 81-year-old was the mother of Alexander Avant and Nicole Avant, the former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas and wife of Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer, Ted Sarandos.<\/p>\n

Robert Davi as Special Agent Johnson in Die Hard. 20th Century Fox<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did I leave California? It was knowing this and watching this happen. It was the nail in my coffin,\u201d Davi said. \u201cCalifornia was seeping into this s\u2014, the crime that was happening within communities and continually encroaching into communities \u2026 a home invasion and murder by a criminal that was let go three different times?\u201d<\/p>\n

A classically trained singer in both opera and traditional pop and jazz, Davi is known for performing the music of his idol, Frank Sinatra. He is also closely associated with Hollywood\u2019s music community, strongly supports teaching musical instruments in schools and was close to the late record producer and composer Quincy Jones. Jones, in turn, was close with Clarence Avant.<\/p>\n

For Davi, the incident resonated deeply. Within months, he and his family moved out of the state.<\/p>\n

Davi wondered about what he considers a key question: how did California and Hollywood, in particular, get so left-wing?<\/p>\n

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at a press briefing at the UN General Assembly. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

Davi recalled the days when Ronald Reagan<\/a> was running for president, noting how hard those in Hollywood were on the actor-turned-politician at the time, but how conservatives didn\u2019t have to hide their beliefs back then. Davi played Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in the 2024 biopic \u201cReagan,\u201d which was re-released in theaters on Sept. 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Screen Actors Guild (SAG) wasn\u2019t afraid. Conservatives were not afraid to talk. Johnny Carson was fair,\u201d Davi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had conservatives that were big stars that spoke out and you had liberals. Since that time, liberalism has taken on another form,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to California Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s office for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While veteran actor, singer and filmmaker Robert Davi has long been an outspoken critic of California\u2019s political leadership,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23924,4535,8131,28,30,29,5324,163847,4278],"class_list":["post-413526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-actors","tag-california","tag-democrats","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-robert-davi","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}