Dent_1 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I've been trawling the feedback etc threads and am surprised to see so little mention of William B. Davis who surely played one of TVs most memorable villains in The X-Files as The Cigarette Smoking Man so am starting this thread. As a huge X-Files fan I cannot explain why I skipped meeting him at LFCC 2010 when I saw Shatner, anyway, I always regretted not meeting him and vowed to do so should he attend another show. He's getting on a bit now at 75 and without getting morbid, there was no way I was chancing not meeting him again. What struck me immediately was that for such a dour character he plays, it was very jarring to see him sitting quietly at his desk with an almost constant smile - not quite the villain of the show. He looked very much the sweet grandfather type and to me he was one of the most approachable guests I have ever met. He was more than happy to personalise and seemed to enjoy the quote I asked for: "I can kill you whenever I please. But not today." I wanted him to put his character name as well but given that his character was referenced as 'Smoking Man' / 'The Cigarette Smoking Man' / 'Cancer Man' / 'C.G.B. Spender' I had no idea which to go for. I asked Davis how he preferred to refer to his character so he added 'CSM' to the signature. It really adds a lot to a meet when a guest is so obliging. Nothing wrong with just a signature but Davis did not make me feel like I was asking to much of him at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElQuijote Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I met him on sunday, and it was a real pleasure ! Upon knowing I was french, he asked his wife (who's also french) how to translate "Cigarette Smoking Man", which was a nice touch :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitani Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I met William B. Davis for the second time, and had a photoshoot with him. I agree, he's a very nice man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicAvatar Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I met him as well, and found him most pleasant. As I explained in the favourite guests thread, I wished I could list everyone I met there (most are in my photoshoots as posted in the photo thread) as they were all delightful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markymark66 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 yes great guest met him on sunday, my daughter is a huge x files fan and she was so excited to meet him. very friendly and chatted for ages with my daughter! lovely man, and still looks the same!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingRichard76 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I first met William B. back in 2010, and way back then the very idea that Gilly would be signing anything to do with #XFiles was ridiculous and so this is why, when I met him I asked him to sign a 10x8 for me, a very lovely gentleman. Was glad to see him back this year, it was great to put one of my most prized possessions in front of him, shake his hand and not be tempted to go all Mulder- heck I didn't even ask anything about X-Files?!?! I think great credit goes to the art of acting where (in real life such as Mr. Davis is) a very charming, unassuming fellow can turn into such a villainous, despicable character who will go at every length imaginable to collude our two heroes crusade, do we trust him? Can we trust him? But yet Mulder will go to every eXtreme possible to eXpose the eXhilirating and eXciting Truth, with Scully faithfully beside him. Its with what William B. brought to this role that made it what it was and its because William B. is a true and fantastic actor. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobains Nan Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 We met him on Saturday and had a lenghtly chat with him he is one of the nicest guests we have ever met and when he asked us who we wanted the photo signed to we replied 'Fox' he said oh right is that your nickname to which we replied no its his real name . That made him laugh with the reply youve gotta be kidding me right . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevothorne101 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Yes I met him! Didn't really chat, as with all guests I was a bit star struck, I did ask how he was though and he was really nice. He also walked past me while I queued for Charles Martinet (voice of Mario), felt so surreal ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 He really was a nice guy. Even when he had no one in his queue when I passed him, he was always smiling. I talked to him about Continuum as I'm sure he'd have had lots of people talking to him about XF over the weekend. He did have a laugh at the quote for my pic, and asked if he had really said it. So I told him where and when etc. Really was a pleasure to meet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGreen Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Saw him on the Friday, he was very quiet, seemed a little put out by one of the pictures I asked him to sign as his character was behind the other two and he had a similar picture on his desk where he was at the front ! He did add CSM unprompted to the X Files photo I asked him to sign and personalised but his signature wasn't that great. Finally, asked if I would be able to have a photo with him, which he politely declined, but said I could take a picture of him at the table. So all in all, not great to be honest, but got what I needed signed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockstar6662 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Met him on Friday and what a nice, unassuming man. Quietly spoken but very nice. I touch in x-files of course but also spoke about continuum too. Went back again with my friend on Sunday who had a Caprica pilot DVD to get signed. The person sat with him asked what that was and he explained and went into detail how he was killed which was amusing as its quite nasty. Very happy to have finally met him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leegallows Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I had a little chat with him about Toronto as he's from there and I'm visiting in a couple of months. As most people have said, he was very quiet but very nice too. I believe he was doing photos at his table on the Sunday after his last shoot because a friend of mine had hers taken. I got my ltd edition X-Files print which only has him and Gillian on it signed. Very happy to have them both on it now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coles84 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I gave him a Smallville picture to signed which pleased him greatly. He told me how much he loved working on the show and was disappointed that he only appeared in two episodes. Was happy to have a picture with me at the desk, this was on the Friday. I noticed on the Saturday he had a 'no posed photo's' sign up however. Top man. Real gentleman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcangel Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I met him on Friday, it was great to meet him as am a huge X-Files fan. He was perfectly poilte but to be honest I did not find him to be at all chatty and actually was a bit 'vague' which made me wonder if he was slightly jet-lagged. I tried to start a conversation with him but it didn't get very far. So although I am pleased to have got the autograph I can not say that he was a top guest for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabreArt Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Slightly off topic but Andrew Robinson was much the same (didn't want to start a whole new thread). He played Scorpio in one of my all time favourite films, Dirty Harry. Such a great guy and as you said, was happy to chat, pose for a photo and write what I wanted. Almost got him to write 'row, row, row your boat...' but just opted for 'Scorpio'. Missed him a few years back, so I'm very glad to have finally met him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 spells Bond Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Very nice gentleman , humble :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Saw him on the Friday, he was very quiet, seemed a little put out by one of the pictures I asked him to sign as his character was behind the other two and he had a similar picture on his desk where he was at the front ! He did add CSM unprompted to the X Files photo I asked him to sign and personalised but his signature wasn't that great. Finally, asked if I would be able to have a photo with him, which he politely declined, but said I could take a picture of him at the table. So all in all, not great to be honest, but got what I needed signed. Sorry you had a bad experience. He's no spring chicken anymore, not really surprised he didn't fancy posed over the table shots on all 3 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zahariel Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Very nice man - I met him on Friday for a photoshoot and he was more then happy to personalise it later that evening when I went over to his table. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly2517 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I've met Bill twice and I find him to be a very very shy person. I mistook his quietness for rudeness but I'm sure that's not the case. He has a Mr Bean-esque shyness about him, where he will smile and nod. However, after talking about X Files for a few mins, and a mate of my loves the x files but didn't go to the event, I got Bill to record a video message for him which he was very much up for. As soon as I told him what to do and held the camera up, he completely changed and went all CSM!! To get a better experience from him, you just need to break him out if his shell a little, hard work yes. But the pay off was fantastic. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loxias Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I met him on the Friday and we chatted about Stargate - although I loved him in X-Files, I've been collecting Stargate autos so I had to get that one done. I thought he was very sweet, quietly spoken and polite. I'm glad I met him :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevothorne101 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 He signed my pic 'Cigarette Man' haha I don't mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyKirsty Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 He seemed a bit bemused, I got his signature on a Continuum print but it wasn't personalised and he had no photos sign up so I didn't get a pic. For reasons beyond my control I was unable to get a posed pic (I spent all Saturday crewing and his friday and sunday pics were over by the time I got into the venue.) Other guests made up for my disapointment that Lexa didn't turn up though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookie Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 I thought he was great - very polite and had a little chat, maybe not so immediately open and chatty as say Norman Reedus that day, but then I'm not sure many people were lol! He added CSM to his personalised sig without me having to ask, and was happy to have a photo at his desk too (I saw him Sunday). I didn't ask for a quote this time but last time he was very happy to do so. Also, I was a little worried that as I couldn't attend til much later than I'd intended on Sunday, what if he was quiet and left early (as he'd been there Friday and Saturday already) as some guests have done in the past? But I needn't have worried :) Was really glad I met him again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbysniece Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 It killed me not being able to get William's auto when I was at LFCC, but due to budget I had to choose and it just made sense for me to get two Game of Thrones autos... As a fan it would have made more sense for me to meet him as my two biggest TV fandoms have been, and are The X Files and Supernatural. I was upset trust me :) Or, you know, trust no one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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