[5] He said that "during the Vietnam era" he "was with the 7th Infantry in Korea" and at another point was "a personnel and administration officer; I ran records branches.

"[7] He was a captain at Fort Leonard Wood by the time he left the U.S. Army, "and worked with General Officers, so I've been able to use that in Hammond and other characters.

"[7] In 1970 he received a master's degree in theatre from the Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU); his thesis was "Design and Construction of Stage Settings for Black Comedy and The Two Executioners".

[8] He taught for several years before returning to SIUC to complete a Ph.D. degree in theatre; his dissertation was "The Evolution of Scenography in the Western Theater".

[1] Davis stated that he landed the role of the eloquently spoken Major Briggs when "I was living in Vancouver and doing local work.

Canadian audiences may also be familiar with Davis thanks to his appearance in one of the famous Heritage Minutes, in which he played an arrogant American gold prospector who pulls a gun on Mountie Sam Steele.

[6] He also had a guest-starring role in the pilot episode of the comedy-drama television series Psych, playing the character of Mr. McCallum.

[citation needed] The writers of Stargate Atlantis paid him homage by mentioning the death of his character George Hammond and naming a spaceship after him in the final episode of the show airing January 9, 2009.

He grew up painting, sculpting, and drawing, and continued to pursue these crafts his entire life, supplementing his income with design commissions and art sales.

On the DVD commentary track for Stargate SG-1 season 6 episode 17 ("Disclosure"), Davis said that he once had a job carving wooden cigar store Indians that were sold at Silver Dollar City.