A shabby plaid shirt, an old baseball cap with a visor, a small but neat beard, and a worried look of attentive eyes. This is how the hero of the cult TV series “Supernatural” looks like Bobby Singer (actor James “Jim” Norman Beaver). He was so fond of the audience that, despite his death in the 7th season, this character continues to appear in the series to this day.
The story of the hero before meeting with Sam and Dean
Robert Stephen Singer was born in 1950. Things were not going smoothly in his parents' family: his father loved to drink and beat his wife and son.
Once, trying to protect himself from the beatings of a drunken parent, a young Bobby killed him. When he grew up and created his own family, he did not want to have his own children, fearing to repeat the fate of his father.
Singer was very fond of his wife, but when the demon moved into her, defending himself, shot at her. However, the shot killed the spouse, but not the demon in her body. From the death of Bobby was saved by a hunter Rufus Turner who happened to be nearby. He helped deal with the demon and taught the inconsolable widower how to hunt supernatural beings.
For a long time, Bobby and Rufus hunted together, but because of the death of their beloved Turner, their paths diverged. Despite this, they never refused to help each other.
Later, the spouse returned in the form of a rational zombie, remembering the past and aware of its essence.
For a short time, Bobby Singer lived with her, as before, but before the start of the 5th day he was forced to kill so that she would not turn into an ordinary zombie.
With John Winchester (the father of Sam and Dean), Bobby met when both were already experienced hunters. For some time they talked, but later quarreled for an unknown reason.
Over the years of the fight against dishonesty, Bobby Singer has become one of the best experts in demonology and has compiled a magnificent library of ancient books on this subject. He advised many hunters, helping them deal with monsters using the acquired knowledge.
Bobby Singer's first appearance in Supernatural
Most likely, the character Bobby decided to enter into the plot to replace the father of the Winchester brothers, who died at the beginning of the second season. However, so that this does not look clumsy, the hero of Singer appeared a little earlier than the sad event - at the end of the first season.
In which series does Bobby Singer appear for the first time? In episode 22 of The Devil's Trap. To find his father, Sam and Dean lure the kidnapping demon Meg into a trap. And with the help of Bobby they torture her, and after they expel her. It was Singer who later had to settle matters with the police, who found in his house the body of a girl obsessed with the demon Meg.
The participation of Bobby in the fate of the Winchester brothers
After the death of the father of the main characters, it was Bobby Singer who replaced him. He often appears in the series, helping the Winchesters brothers.
In the second season, this hero acts as an arbiter during a quarrel between Dean and Sam, helps to expel the demon from the latter, and also participates in closing the gates to the underworld. Very often he gave his charges various ironic advice: "Either do your job with a smile, or don’t take it at all!" or "When they hunt for you, the most reasonable is to be paranoid!".
In the third season, Bobby begins to appear more often. His main achievement during this period was gaining the ability to make colt and bullets capable of killing demons.
With the advent of the character Castiel (angel) in the fourth season, the hero of Singer began to be given less screen time. Despite this, he performs well and several times saves the life of his wards.
The next season, despite all the precautions, Bobby takes possession of the demon and tries to kill the Winchesters with his help. True, the hero manages to take control of himself for several moments and stab himself with an anti-demon knife. He manages to survive after this injury, but he spends almost the entire season in a wheelchair. Suffering from this, the character sometimes becomes depressed (especially because of the story of the return of his zombie wife) and is constantly looking for a way to heal. Unfortunately, angels who are able to grant Singer health refuse to do so.
In one episode, Bobby is forced to leave his soul as a pledge to the demon Crowley, who, as a bonus, heals the hero's ailment. In the sixth season, this deal gives the character a lot of problems, as the demon does not want to play fair. As a result, Singer finds the burial of the body of the demon himself and, with the help of blackmail, forces him to return his soul. The rest of the time, Bobby helps Dean regain the soul of Sam, who remained in a hellish cage with Lucifer.
In the seventh season, because of Castiel, the terrible creatures of the leviathan penetrate the human world. It was Bobby who plays one of the key roles in defeating them.
Bobby's death and ghost appeal
The Leviathan leader, who settled in the body of Dick Roman, is the culprit in the death of Singer: during the sally of the brothers and Bobby, this monster shoots the latter in the head. However, the hero does not die immediately. He goes to the hospital, and his soul, waiting for Bobby Singer to die, travels through his memories. Before his death, the hero comes to his senses and tells Sam and Dean about the plans of the Leviathans.
After the death of Bobby Winchesters burn his body. However, the spirit of Singer remains to roam the world, invisible to others, thanks to the flask of Bobby, which the brothers left for themselves.
Gradually, the hero learns to control his ghostly forces. In the role of a ghost, he repeatedly saves Sam and Dean. Over time, the spirit of Bobby begins to seek revenge on his killer, and on the way to this, he almost kills Sam. Realizing everything, Singer asks to destroy the flask, thus leaving the world of the living.
Singer's life in the afterlife
The demon Crowley, remembering all the affairs of Bobby, seeks that, contrary to his merits, he falls into the netherworld. The hero himself explained the injustice with these words: "You seem to do a little evil, then to do a lot of good. But sometimes evil comes out damn evil ... And good ... You have to pay an exorbitant price for it."
The Winchesters learn about this much later - during their attempts to close the gates of hell, for which Sam had to complete several tasks. The second of these was the salvation of an innocent soul from hell. This soul belongs to Bobby.
Once in hell, Singer every minute suffered the worst torture for him: he saw how Sam and Dean become demons. The younger Winchester still manages to get Bobby out of hell and through purgatory to bring people into the world. Here, Crowley wanted to send him to suffer, but the angel Naomi helped get the Winchesters mentor to heaven.
Bobby's participation in the last few seasons
Singer's character appears periodically in each season of Supernatural. In the ninth, he acts as part of Sam's consciousness, which no longer wants to live in this world.
In the tenth season, this hero was mentioned in separate episodes. And in the episode "His Man," Bobby helps Sam and Castiel learn from Archangel Metatron how to remove the curse of Cain from Dean.
In the eleventh season, this character appears in the memories of the Winchesters.
Interesting Facts
- The name this character received in honor of one of the scriptwriters and directors of the project, Robert Singer.
- In one of the parallel universes, the hero is married to the owner of the Ellen hunter bar. By the way, many fans after the appearance of the character of the sheriff Jody Mills in the series dreamed that she would marry Singer.
- Fans of the hero often ask the question: what was the name of the wife of Bobby Singer from "Supernatural"? Karen Singer. In the series, she was played by two performers: Elizabeth Marlo (season 3) and Carrie Ann Fleming (5th and 7th).
- Favorite actress of this hero is Torrey Spelling, known for her role as Donna Martin in the television series "Beverly Hills, 90210". Being in his personal paradise in heaven, Bobby reads her biography.
- A slightly worn baseball cap is a peculiar symbol of Bobby Singer, which is an integral attribute of the hero, as well as a beard.
- This character is one of the few in the series who managed to visit hell, purgatory and heaven.
- Witty quotes from Bobby Singer are often used by fans of the series to create demotivators.
- More often than not, the hero exclaimed “Dunce!” With this word on his lips, he died in the seventh season.
Jim Beaver - the actor who played Bobby
This role was embodied on the screen by James Norman Beaver, who is often called Jim.
On his paternal side, he is a distant relative of the famous feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir. It was probably from her that Beaver inherited a passion for writing. So, in addition to his acting career, Jim is the author of several books, more than a dozen plays and a number of articles in the journal Films in Review.
After leaving school, Jim Beaver went with his friends as a volunteer in Vietnam. After returning from there, he decided to become an actor, for which he entered the University of Central Oklahoma.
After graduating from the university for several years, Beaver tried unsuccessfully to succeed in the profession. He toured a lot with theater troupes around the country and collected materials for a biographical book about George Reeves.
In the early 80s, Jim managed to get a place as a playwright in the Hollywood company Theater West, where he moonlights today. Soon, a new talented playwright becomes the author of the script for several American TV shows.
A couple of years later went uphill and acting career. Having played the Vietnam War veteran in the movie "Country", Beaver became quite in demand.
In the early 2000s, Jim Beaver was invited to play on the television series Deadwood. The role of a gloomy gold digger, who achieved everything with his labor and perseverance, glorified the actor outside the United States.
In subsequent years, Jim played simultaneously in three television series: Supernatural, John of Cincinnati, and Big Love. Despite active work in these projects, he continued his career as a playwright Beaver, for which he was nominated for several prestigious awards.
In recent years, the actor starred in individual episodes of the popular television series Mentalist, Clairvoyant, Deceive Me, Dexter and others.
Jim Beaver's personal life
For the first time, the actor tied himself up by marriage while studying at the university. His chosen one was classmate Debbie Young. Unfortunately, this marriage did not last six months.
The second time went down the aisle Jim with Cecily Adams. They lived together for 15 years, until in 2004 the spouse died of cancer. From this marriage, the actor has a daughter, Madeline Rose Beaver.
Jim Beaver is in many ways similar to his hero Bobby Singer. Like his hero, the actor had to fight, he loves to read a lot and lost his beloved woman. Probably, it was this similarity of fate that helped Jim play this character perfectly. And although there is a great achievement in Beaver’s biography than participation in “Supernatural”, for most he will always be Bobby Singer.