A tall, slender, craggy-faced actor usually cast in gentle roles but most noted for playing a villain, William B Davis found TV stardom after the age of 50. The Toronto native had begun his career as a child actor, cast in a summer stock production by his cousins who operated a theater. Other stage and radio roles followed while he pursued studies at the University of Toronto. In the early 1960s, Davis attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and spent the 1965-66 season as a member of the National Theatre. Returning to Canada, he joined the National Theatre School of Canada as artistic director. Davis spent much of the next twelve years teaching before he decided to resume his acting career. Roles in Canadian TV followed before he began to make inroads in the USA in such films as "Look Who's Talking" (1989), as a kindly doctor, and "Unforgettable" (1996). During the first season of Fox's "The X-Files", Davis was tapped to embody the mysterious, then nearly silent, recurring figure dubbed 'Smoking Man' or 'Cancer Man'. Over the run of the series, his role expanded; a 1996 episode was devoted entirely to the character. Davis reprised the role in the 1998 big screen version of the series.