X-FILES’ FIRST ELDER DID IT ALL
The truth is still out there for Vancouver actor Don S. Williams who led shadowy group the Syndicate in hit television series
As The X-Files make a return to the TV screen, Don S. Williams remembers how it all ended for him.
In the role of the imposing First Elder, one of the leaders of a lugubrious shadow government named the Syndicate, Williams saw his end in the sixth season of the series, fried to dust (along with the rest of the group) by a rebel alien organization.
“The word is that all they found was a pile of ashes,” Williams recalls, remembering a conversation he had with X-Files creator Chris Carter at the Los Angeles airport around 1996, where Carter told him, “That was you, Don.”
Williams appeared in a dozen or so episodes of The X-Files in the third through sixth seasons of the show. He also appeared in the first X-Files movie in 1999.
Now 77 and living in North Vancouver in a care facility, the Alberta-born Williams boasts credits as an actor, director and producer, and also worked for the CBC, directing episodes of shows including The Beachcombers. “I did it all,” he says. Indeed, he did. He acted and directed in theatre, worked with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, produced a show called Hymn Sing for the CBC that also led to releasing an album of music on RCA Victor, and directing notables such as Chief Dan George, Bruce Greenwood and Mi- chael J. Fox — who, like Williams, is fighting Parkinson’s disease.
These days, Williams continues to help support new talent via his involvement with FANS, the Fund for the Arts on the North Shore. He recently took a liking to painting.
Though his character of the First Elder is long dead, Williams did receive a call from The X-Files people asking for permission to use his likeness in the sixth episode of the revival miniseries that makes its debut on Sunday.
This leads to speculation that the Syndicate will be mentioned, perhaps either in a flashback or on a photograph, with a mid-’90s Williams in sight. Nothing is certain, but, of course, the truth is out there.
Williams remembers how he came about the role and the audition process where he met Carter, whom he calls a “super guy.”
“‘Remember, Don, this man has killed many people,’” Williams recalls Carter saying, directing him in the audition.
Williams says he decided to make full use of his then-heavy six-foot-four frame and adopt a bit of a cartoonish “eastern seaboard Italian guy” persona.
Williams admits he was never a big sci-fi fan, though he is quite curious to see the new series.
“I liked vampire movies,” Williams says, with a chuckle. “You would see a beautiful woman on a bed, in a flowing dress, and her hair over the pillow with her neck exposed and the vampire going in for a bite. I found that very sexy.
“I’m curious to see what comes up in the mind of the great Chris Carter, because he did all the stories and all the co-writing in the original series. I’m curious to see what they do with the characters they bumped off the show.”