Supernatural’s Jim Beaver Meets Fans at Book Signing

You know him at Bobby on Supernatural, but this week actor Jim Beaver traded in his trucker cap and took his place at the podium at the local Barnes & Noble. Jim was in Huntington Beach, California to sign copies of his new book Life’s That Way.

The book is made up of a series of emails Jim wrote during a particularly hard time in his life. Just weeks after finding out that his daughter was autistic, he learned that his wife Cecily, a non-smoker, had lung cancer. With friends and family anxious to keep up with the news, Jim began sending out nightly emails detailing Cecily’s progress along with general day-to-day tidbits. In doing so, he unintentionally created an emotional journal that became a life line for hundreds (or possibly thousands) of strangers who were suffering through a similar ordeal.

The Huntington Beach book signing was the first of several Jim has planned and he seemed surprised to see the twenty-five or so people who were awaiting his arrival. He quickly gleaned that they were all Supernatural fans but that didn’t dampen his mood. Quite the contrary. When the crowd dutifully asked questions about nothing but his book and his writing, he put on his best Bobby growl and snapped that most of us had probably never even read a book! Ask about Supernatural already!

After spending a good twenty minutes reading passages from the book and discussing his wife’s passing, I think Jim was more than ready to switch gears to a more comfortable subject – the world of the Winchesters. He recounted the infamous toe-tugging prank Jared pulled during “Dream a Little Dream of Me” after which he asked if any of us had actually felt Jared’s pecs! Uh, sorry, no. Then he told a story about making Jensen crack up during one of the final episodes. It’s more of a “you had to be there” funny story, but it was fun to hear him talk about life on the set.

I uploaded a video of that portion of his talk, it’s a bit hard to hear but you’ll get the drift.

As for Harper’s Island, Jim said he had to sign more confidentiality agreements with CBS than he signed for secret clearance when he was in the military — so no clues at all about who the killer is on that show.

Here’s the video of Jim and afterward what I think is a big Supernatural spoiler, so BEWARE!!!

Jim was asked about his appearances in the last few episodes. He said he was in the last three, more so in two, one a lot and one he disappears quickly and that’s that. The then agitated audience asked if Bobby would be returning in season five and he was coy with his response, adding that on Supernatural dead doesn’t always mean dead. He said he once played a priest on Days of Our Lives and there he gave buried and married a dozen people none of whom were married or dead a month later thanks to evil twins, dream sequences, etc. To be clear here – he didn’t say Bobby was going to die, but he said everything but that, so I’m thinking that’s a big sorry but he’s a goner.

Well, Jensen did say the last few episodes were emotional killers for him – me thinks that might be part of the reason.

Photos: Cynthia Boris (Happy for the link but please don’t repost elsewhere)