By Daniel Hartvig Nielsen - from the Danish X-Files podcast, ‘Sammensværgelsen’ (The Conspiracy Podcast).
The Canadian actor Morris Panych appeared in six episodes of ‘The X-Files’, starting in season two as Dr. Simon Auerbach in ‘F. Emasculata’.
From season three’s ‘Piper Maru’, he became known as The Grey-Haired Man in the X-Files community. An ice-cold hitman working for the Syndicate, doing The Cigarette Smoking Man’s dirty job.
We have seen him threatening Skinner, he killed off Mulder’s informant X in ‘Herrenvolk’, and he almost shot Mulder in the Emmy-nominated episode ‘Memento Mori’.
But The Grey-Haired Man disappeared out of the blue after season four’s ‘Zero Sum’, and the henchman’s fate is still unresolved.
Last summer I got the chance to ask Morris Panych some questions over e-mail about his time on the show – from his audition to the character’s iconic moments. He had some surprising answers.
- Yes, vaguely. It happened in downtown Vancouver, I think, in an office building - but I could be wrong. In those days the scene in Vancouver was quite busy and growing very rapidly so the locations of auditions kept changing. I think I might've auditioned twice, once for ‘F. Emasculata’ and again for the first Grey-Haired Man episode [Piper Maru].
- These are two completely different characters. I remember saying something to them about it, and my agent, wondering if anybody would be bothered that the same actor was playing two different roles, but it did not seem to phase anybody at all. That is when I began to realize how little importance was attached to my acting!
- I remember her being a very nice person and quite welcoming to the set. I was also the first time I heard the term 'jilly'. Somebody said 'bring in the jilly' and the gaffers brought it a little box for the lead actress to stand on. I loved that they had a name for it, obviously they used it quite a bit. And, clearly, she was well-liked on the set
- He was always Grey-Haired Man
- I remember only that the episode had some dialogue for me that I don't think the producers liked me saying it, in fact I got a lot of acting notes; so that was my only dialogue episode. It was a crazy time, and we already knew the show was a big hit, so people who very reactive to stuff. I was a bit overwhelmed. I remember my suit more that I remember Skinner! I also remember how filthy the restaurant was, and I wondered if it really was that filthy or just set-decorated that way.
- I was always on call for the part; not paid to stand by, but waiting to see if they would use me, and I know that they expected me to show up if they wrote me in.
- Kim Manners talked to me once about the character. He said something like 'a cold wind blows through him' which I liked. He had me redo a shot where I am firing a weapon and walking forward, directly into the powder discharge and casings. He said 'you blinked; your character doesn't blink' or something to that effect.
- No; I thought about it, but I thought it was dangerous and too logical to develop a backstory. I could not make it all fit. I just thought of myself as a mindless killer, who liked my job.
- As I say, I played 'cold'. I thought if I applied character logic to it that it would diminish his power and even, weirdly, his complexity; the audience is often better at supplying background than the actors themselves. It is how novels work, I think; and why you are often disappointed when a fictional character is portrayed in film.
- I think I might have apologized to the actor playing 'X' [Steven Williams]. I showed up, did my thing. I was trying to treat the role the way that the Grey-Haired Man treated the job. Believe it or not, I was not really following the show. In fact, I watched the episodes I was in and that was about it. I thought the show was very good, and well produced, but I was not into it.
- That, I cannot recall.
- Yes, it was an extraordinary set. But I never spent much time on set because they would hold me in my trailer until they needed me for the scene; often the scenes were shot very late at night.
- I remember really appreciating my coaching from the SWAT guy: I think he worked in Pitt Meadows or something. He was the one who told me how to fire as a real assassin, and how stupid it was to hold a gun sideways when you shoot, since the casings will fly right into your face. Also, as I mentioned, being told not to blink when I walked towards Mulder.
- I knew Bill Davis from other things because he was a local Vancouver guy and a very nice man. I did not get too close to anyone else, frankly. I am not sure the producers wanted me to hang around too much. They treated me well, but I was a featured player. I would be surprised if any of the stars knew who I was.
- Not that I recall.
- The episode was quite fraught for me, personally. I was directing a very large opera production at the time, involving hundreds of people, and a conflict arose with my dress rehearsal date for the opera and a shifted shoot date for X Files. I told the producers that I could not make the shoot because the opera was too big and too hard to shift. They basically read me the riot act over the phone. It was a very unpleasant exchange, and so, with great difficulty, I got the dress rehearsal moved and showed up on set.
- I felt that might be it for me - the mood was cool to say the least; maybe I'd crossed a line with the producers, I do not know. To be honest, after that exchange, I was glad not to be part of the show. I can only guess the feeling was mutual. You could say, yes, my character is still alive. But I certainly won’t be playing him.
- I remember making really good money. I do not mean to be glib but at the time I was very grateful for the money, mostly, because I could afford a down payment on a house, which gave me a really good leg up in life. I was always surprised by the shows massive success and it’s cult following. I think there were other actors who were more into the whole thing than I was. I was interested in developing my theatre craft and my playwrighting. The X Files helped me do that.
- No; but I might binge it sometime.
- The episodes are always funny to me. It was shot in Vancouver and so, inevitably, somebody I know- sometimes quite well - will show up in a scene, and so it is difficult to see them as the character. I just think of them as the person I know.
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