After an early period in Chicago, Davis spent much of his twenties as an expatriate in Paris.

The Opening of a Door

His only novel, the Opening of a Door, was published to critical praise in 1931.

Editorialship

He served as fiction editor of the periodical Harper's Bazaar from the years 1936 to 1941. After being fired from Harper's, he served as an editor for Mademoiselle for eight years. An overweight alcoholic and flamboyant homosexual, he is noted for attempting to bring serious literature to the generally light world of woman's magazines. He was an early sponsor of such diverse literary figures as Truman Capote, Ray Bradbury and Jane Bowles.

February House

Davis and several friends, including Gypsy Rose Lee, founded an art commune at 7 Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights in October 1940. Dubbed February House by Anaïs Nin because so many of its residents had February birthdays, the house became a hub of cultural activities in New York. Figures like Benjamin Britten, W. H. Auden and Carson McCullers were live-in guests. A study of 7 Middagh Street, entitled February House, was published in 2005.

He died of a heart attack in Berlin, where he had been helping his wife, singer Lotte Lenya, make recordings.

A very unflattering literary duplicate of George Davis was written by Truman Capote in the form of the character "Boaty" in his unfinished work Answered Prayers.