It was a pivotal scene in The X-Files' pilot episode, even if viewers didn't realize it at the time. The setting: a non-descript office in a government building. A man in his mid-fifties leans against a filing cabinet. Smoke from his cigarette swirls around him as his two colleagues brief a young FBI agent about her new partner, a brilliant crackpot named Fox Mulder. The skulking man doesn't utter a word, but his cloud of smoke and unsettling stare establish him as the dominant presence in the room.
This mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man — as he came to be known — would emerge as the number one baddie on the paranormal series over the course of its nine seasons (five of which were shot right here in the 604). Nearly every conspiracy, cover-up, and bait-and-switch led back to the remorseless Cigarette Smoking Man. His heinousness earned him a prime spot at #21 on TV Guide's 2013 list of the 60 nastiest villains in TV history (J.R. Ewing took the top position).
That's why it often comes as a shock to X-Files fans, who celebrate the show's 20th anniversary this week, that the thespian who breathed life into the Cigarette Smoking Man — Vancouver-based actor William B. Davis — is not only a good-humoured, charming, non-smoking gent, but a staunch skeptic to boot. "I certainly don't believe in UFOs or aliens or the paranormal world," said Davis in a recent phone interview.
Equally surprising to fans is the fact that, long before he was keeping David Duchovny's Mulder and Gillian Anderson's Scully from the truth out there, Davis was a celebrated theatre director who helmed plays featuring legends such as Maggie Smith, Albert Finney, Derek Jacobi, Donald Sutherland, and Jackie Burroughs. Even today, he makes time for directing projects that pique his interest, such as United Players The Habit of Art, which runs at the Jericho Arts Centre until September 29. "People did almost look at me as if I was born at age 55," he said, laughing. "They wondered, 'What had he done before that? How on Earth did he end up on The X-Files?'"
The answers to both questions and more can be found in Davis' recently published memoir, Where Theres Smoke... Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man. Davis covers decades of territory in 290 pages: growing up in a wealthy family in 1940s Toronto; breaking into show biz via CBC radio plays; directing turns on Canadian and British stages; several marriages and countless love affairs; adventures in teaching and year-round skiing; life on The X-Files set and ruminations on what it means to be part of a sci-fi phenomenon ("I think its kind of cute to be what I call a minor celebrity because you get to taste it but you don't get the full meal-deal as it were. I can't imagine what life was like for [Duchovny] and [Anderson] during the heyday of the show. They couldn't walk down the street")
Putting pen to paper forced Davis, 75, to reflect on a life that has pulled him in a multitude of directions. "It's like being in a time machine," said Davis, who currently recurs as future Alec Sadler on Showcase's time travel procedural Continuum. "When writing a memoir, one has to somehow imaginatively go back to where one was in the 1940s and recreate it for oneself."
Given the memoirs scope and conversational tone, you don't have to be a theatre connoisseur or even an X-Files-phile to enjoy it. "My brother was funny because he said, 'Wow, when did you learn to write?' I don't think he's ever seen The X-Files, but he said he really liked that whole section about the show," said Davis. "And it's a social history. The world has changed in my lifetime, and the changes are remarkable."
