William Bruce Davis

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William Bruce Davis (2011)
William Bruce Davis as a participant in the 2011 CSIConference

William Bruce Davis (born January 13, 1938 in Toronto , Ontario ) is a Canadian actor who was best known for his role as a "smoker" in the television series The X-Files - The Scary Cases of the FBI .

life and work

Davis made his first experience on stage and radio at the age of 11. In 1959, he received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Toronto . He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and worked for several years as a director in British repertory theater. At the Royal National Theater he worked with actors Maggie Smith , Laurence Olivier and Albert Finney, among others .

Davis later worked in Canada at the National Theater School and as a director in various regional theaters. He started acting again in the 1970s. In 1989 he founded his own drama school with the William Davis Center for Actors Study in Vancouver . Davis has appeared in numerous films and television series, including Strandpiraten , 21 Jump Street , Wiseguy , MacGyver , The Police Commissioner , Outer Limits , Smallville , Stargate - SG-1 , Supernatural, and Continuum .

His most famous role is that of the mysterious chain smoker, also known as "Cancer Man", in the television series The X-Files - The FBI's Scary Cases from 1993 to 2002 and 2016. Private got used to it Davis quit smoking in the 1970s and used his notoriety through the series to support anti-smoking campaigns for the Canadian Cancer Society . He smoked herbal cigarettes while filming the X-Files . As a staunch skeptic , Davis toyed with the idea of ​​withdrawing from the series early on. His concerns were especially heightened by Richard Dawkins , a Davis idol, who repeatedly publicly accused the X-Files of promoting belief in the paranormal . Eventually Davis decided that there was no evidence to support this claim.

Davis is an atheist and active in the skeptical movement. In lectures he draws particular attention to the threat posed by global warming . He is married and has two daughters from a previous marriage. As a passionate water skier , he has already won the Canadian championship in the age group of 65 to 70 year olds.

In 2011 he published his autobiography. The title Where There's Smoke ...: Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man alludes to the eponymous X-Files episode of the fourth season , which in the German synchronization was called Thoughts of the Mysterious Smoker and deals with the background story of Davis' character in the series.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • William Bruce Davis: Where There's Smoke ...: Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man . ECW Press, Toronto 2011, ISBN 1-77041-052-X .

Web links

Commons : William B. Davis  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Michael D. Reid: Big Picture: X-Files' Smoking Man is about to light another. In: Times-Colonist. January 29, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b Geoff Cowan: The Truth is Out There . In: The Skeptic . March 2013, p. 28 ff . ( scribd.com ).
  3. ^ Yvonne Palkowski: Smoke and Mirrors: The X-Files' William B. Davis on his memoirs and why he doesn't believe in ghosts. University College (Toronto), 2012, accessed May 9, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Sandra Thomas: Fairview: 'Smoking man' hopes to smoke the competition on skis. In: Vancouver Courier. February 13, 2014, accessed May 9, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Davis, William Bruce
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Toronto , Ontario