Any time a man dies in war, he dies too soon.

It breaks my heart it really does. Another day, another obituary. Major Garland Briggs has passed on to the White Lodge. Don Davis is a really tremendous American actor who, for some strange reason, I will fondly remember as the John West fisherman ("It's a chinook salmon), plus of course, Major Briggs from Twin Peaks ("Garland? Judy Garland?") and Scully's dad in The X-Files.

Davis was a captain in the army stationed in Korea in the seventies so it's appropriate that he often played authority figures of one kind or another:

Air Force - 2
Army - 6 (I'm including Stargate SG-1 here)
Clergy - 3 (he played a reverand in an episode of The West Wing and the film Needful Things and a cardinal (!) in The Sixth Day)
Detective - 3
Law - 5 (He played a Senator in several episodes of The Dead Zone and a judge in an episode of LA Law)
Mayor - 1
Medical - 8 (including a doctor in episodes of Twilight Zone and an episode of Wiseguy)
Navy - 2
Police - 10 (including a sheriff in Wes Craven's Nightmare Cafe and a Chief in Broken Badges)
Principal - 2 (including the recent film, Woodshop)
Prison Warden or Guard - 5 (he played a warden in Knots Landing!
Probation Officer - 1 (in the film Hero or Accidental Hero as it is sometimes called overseas)

He played both a general and a detective in seperate episodes of the reincarnated The Outer Limits. He played different characters in different episodes of 21 Jump Street including a principal and a prison warden and he played a judge and a prison guard in seperate episodes of Jump Street's sister (or is that brother?) show, Booker.

He also appeared in episodes of tv shows such as The Chris Isaak Show, Highlander and had memorable appearances in films such A League Of Their Own, Best In Show and the Look Who's Talking movies. His first credited appearance was in Joanie Loves Cachi!

My real sore point is that he was cut (along with many other cast members) from the Twin Peaks film, Fire Walk With Me. David Lynch is considered an astute reader of people, often casting just from a photograph. Don Davis in interviews (check out the various Twin Peaks DVDs) come across exactly like Major Briggs - stout, generous and very much spiritual. It would be wonderful if Mr Lynch finally got around to mastering and releasing all of that missing footage from Fire Walk With Me - it would be a tremendous tribute to Don Davis.