My Favorite Cigar
William Stanford Davis • Actor • Romeo y Julieta Churchill
For William Stanford Davis it has been a long day’s journey into overnight success. Now 74, he amassed a showbiz resume from his teens onward, from frontman in an R&B group to DJ through standup comic and acting. But the role of the enigmatic custodian on “Abbott Elementary” has brought him broad acclaim. Starting with one line in the first episode (“That’s who runs the world, kids. The Illuminati.”), Mr. Johnson was intended to be a minor character. Then Davis slowly caught fire. By the seventh episode, producers decided to give him a regular role. “I told my wife, ‘We can’t tell anybody, but . . .’ She screamed. I screamed. The dog screamed.”
Davis speaks of the valor of overworked educators. “Everyone on this planet has been touched by a teacher,” he says. “They should make as much as doctors, because they save lives, too.”
Cuban Romeos are his favorite, but he also calls out Fuente, My Father and Dominican Romeos. “I really love to smoke when I’m at the golf course. Notice I said at the golf course. I didn’t say playing golf. I like to go out and have a drink and smoke with friends and enjoy the afternoon.”
