Born: March 31, 1927
Age: 97
William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927) is an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild (1999 to 2001). He is known for his performance as Dustin Hoffman's character's father in The Graduate (1967), as Howard in Two for the Road, as John Adams in 1776, as Carter Nash in Captain Nice, as Mr. George Feeny in ABC's Boy Meets World and its sequel, Disney Channel's Girl Meets World, as the voice of KITT in Knight Rider, and as Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere, for which he won two Emmy Awards.
William Daniels was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irene and David Daniels, although he has spoken with a Boston Brahmin accent (with some transatlantic influence) in many of his roles. His father was a builder. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1949, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
William Daniels began his career as a member of the singing Daniels family in Brooklyn, New York. He made his television debut as part of a variety act (along with other members of his family) in 1943, on NBC, then a single station in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1945 in Life With Father, and remained a busy Broadway actor for decades afterwards. His Broadway credits include roles in 1776, A Thousand Clowns, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and A Little Night Music. He earned an Obie Award for The Zoo Story (1960).
Daniels's motion picture debut was as a school principal in the 1963 anti-war drama Ladybug Ladybug. In 1965, he reprised his Broadway role as a child welfare worker in the screen version of A Thousand Clowns. In 1967 he starred in The Graduate, with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. In 1969, Daniels starred as John Adams in the Broadway musical 1776; he also appeared in the film version in 1972. Two years later, he co-starred with Larry Hagman, Linda Blair and Mark Hamill in Richard Donner's telefilm Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic.
Daniels's first network television appearance came in 1952 when he portrayed the young John Quincy Adams, eldest son of John and Abigail Adams in the Hallmark Hall of Fame drama A Woman for the Ages. In 1976, he reprised the role as the middle-aged and elder John Quincy Adams in the acclaimed PBS miniseries The Adams Chronicles (George Grizzard played John Adams). He also starred in the short-lived series Captain Nice as police chemist Carter Nash, although he told an interviewer in TV Guide he hated the role.
He appeared as acid-tongued (but well-meaning) Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988, for which he won two Emmy awards. Concurrently, he provided the voice of KITT in Knight Rider from 1982 to 1986. Daniels said in 1982, "My duties on Knight Rider are very simple. I do it in about an hour and a half. I've never met the cast. I haven't even met the producer."
He reprised the voice-only role of KITT in 1991 for the television movie Knight Rider 2000, again in the movie The Benchwarmers. He performed the role in AT&T and GE commercials about talking machines, and twice in The Simpsons as well as at the Comedy Central Roast of his co-star David Hasselhoff.
He also performed the voice for a special edition GPS sold by Radio Shack.
Daniels then portrayed teacher (later principal) George Feeny at John Adams High School in Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000. In addition to the previously mentioned 1967 superhero sitcom Captain Nice, he was a regular on the 1970s TV series Freebie and the Bean and The Nancy Walker Show. A familiar character actor, he has appeared as a guest star on numerous TV comedies and dramas, including Soap, The Rockford Files, Quincy, M.E., and many others.
In 2012, Daniels appeared in the 9th season of Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Craig Thomas, an unlikely mentor to the character of Dr. Cristina Yang played by actress Sandra Oh. His character, Dr. Thomas, died in the operating room while performing a procedure to repair a heart defect midway through the season, which forced Yang to move back to Seattle.
In 2014, Daniels reprised his role as Mr. Feeny in the pilot episode of the Boy Meets World spinoff, Girl Meets World. His role was a cameo at the end credits praising the adult Cory Matthews for his parenting. He made two additional appearances in the second season.
Bartlett and Daniels both served on the Screen Actors Guild's Board of Directors.
Daniels has been married to actress and fellow Emmy Award-winner Bonnie Bartlett since June 30, 1951. In 1961, Bartlett gave birth to a son, who died just 24 hours later. They later adopted two children: Michael, who became an assistant director and stage manager in Los Angeles, and Robert, who became an artist and computer graphics designer based in New York City.
Daniels refused the 1969 Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor in a Musical in 1776 due to his insistence that the part of John Adams was a leading role rather than supporting. He was ruled to be ineligible for the Best Actor nomination because of the technicality that his name was not billed above the title of the show.
In 1986, both Daniels and his wife, Bonnie Bartlett, who played his fictional wife on St. Elsewhere and Boy Meets World, won Emmy Awards on the same night, becoming the first married couple to accomplish the feat since Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in 1965. Lunt and Fontanne were the first to win Emmy Awards for a film, and Bartlett and Daniels were the first couple to win for a television series.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1963 | Ladybug Ladybug | Mr. Calkins | |
1965 | A Thousand Clowns | Albert Amundson | |
1967 | Two for the Road | Howard Manchester | |
The Graduate | Mr. Braddock | ||
The President's Analyst | Wynn Quantrill | ||
1969 | Marlowe | Mr. Crowell | |
1972 | 1776 | John Adams | |
1974 | The Parallax View | Austin Tucker | |
1977 | Black Sunday | Pugh | |
Oh, God! | George Summers | ||
1978 | The One and Only | Mr. Crawford | |
Family | Dr. Taylor | ||
1979 | Sunburn | Crawford | |
1980 | The Blue Lagoon | Arthur Lestrange | |
1981 | All Night Long | Richard H. Copleston | |
Reds | Julius Gerber | ||
1987 | Blind Date | Judge Harold Bedford | |
1989 | Her Alibi | Sam | |
1994 | Magic Kid 2 | Manny | |
2006 | The Benchwarmers | KITT | Voice |
2007 | Blades of Glory | Commissioner Ebbers |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1952 | A Woman for the Ages | John Quincy Adams | TV movie |
1956 | Robert Montgomery Presents | Donald Kemper | Episode: "Three Men From Tomorrow" |
1956 1960 1961 |
Armstrong Circle Theatre | Leonard Gregory | Episode: "Five Who Shook the Mighty" Episode: "Separate Parents" Episode: "The Spy Next Door" |
1959 | Brenner | Larry Dyer | Episode: "Man in the Middle" |
1961 1962 |
Naked City | Herbert Grafton Harry Culverin |
Episode: "A Kettle of Precious Fish" Episode: "Idyllis of a Running Back" |
1962 1964 |
The Defenders | Malloy Mike Herman |
Episode: "The Locked Room" Episode: "A Voice Loud and Clear" |
1963 | East Side/West Side | Principal Costigan | Episode: "I Before E Except After C" |
1963 1965 |
The Doctors and the Nurses | Vernon Kane Buddy |
Episode: "Field of Battle" Episode: "A Couple of Dozen Tiny Pills" |
1965 | For the People | Fred Rice | Episode: "Any Benevolent Purpose" |
1966 | T.H.E. Cat | Tony Webb | Episode: "The Ring of Anasis" |
1967 | Captain Nice | Carter Nash / Captain Nice | |
1968 | The Good Guys | Arnold Schreck | Episode: "Let 'em Eat Rolls" |
1968 | The Ghost & Mrs. Muir | Blair Thompson | Episode: "Mr. Perfect" |
1969 | Judd, for the Defense | Harry Stratton | Episode: "Epitaph on a Computer Card" |
1972 | Cannon | Dale Corey | Episode: "Hear No Evil" |
1973 | Love, American Style | Alan | Segment: "Love and the Old Lover" |
1973 | Ironside | Stillwald, the Bank Manager | Episode: "All Honorable Men" |
1973 | Murdock's Gang | Roger Bates | TV movie |
1973 | The Fabulous Doctor Fable | Elliot Borden | TV movie |
1973 1976 |
McCloud | Clayton Gills Fred Pearson |
Episode: "Butch Cassidy Rides Again" Episode: "The Day New York Turned Blue" |
1974 | Kolchak: The Night Stalker | Police Lt. Jack Matteo | Episode: "The Vampire" |
1974 | A Case of Rape | Leonard Alexander | TV movie |
1975 | Insight | Mike Madden | Episode: "Hunger Knows My Name" |
1975 | Barbary Coast | Boyle | Episode: "Irish Luck" |
1975 | The Bob Newhart Show | Edgar T. Vickers Jr. | Episode: "Fathers and Sons and Mothers" |
1975 | Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic | Matt Hodges | TV movie |
1975 | One of Our Own | Dr. Moresby | TV movie |
1976 | Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident | Bissell | TV movie |
1976 | That Was the Year That Was - 1976 | Sketch Actor | TV movie |
1976 | The Adams Chronicles | John Quincy Adams (age 50-81) | |
1976 | McMillan & Wife | Commander Campbell | Episode: "Point of Law" |
1976 | The Rockford Files | Thomas Caine Gary Bevins |
Episode: The Italian Bird Fiasco Episode: So Help Me God |
1976-1977 | The Nancy Walker Show | Lt. Commander Kenneth Kitteridge | |
1976 1979 1980 |
Quincy, M.E. | Paul Reardon Charlie Trusdale Dr. Charlie Volmer |
Episode: "A Star is Dead" Episode: "Dark Angel" Episode: "Last Rights" |
1977 | The Incredible Hulk | Dr. John Bonifant | Episode: "Death in the Family" |
1977 | Killer on Board | Marshall Snowden | TV movie |
1978 | Soap | Heinrich Himmel | Season 1, Episode 16 |
1978 | Family | Dr. Taylor | Episode: "Counterpoint" |
1978 | Grandpa Goes to Washington | Gov. Bronx | Episode: "Pilot" |
1978 | Greatest Heroes of the Bible | Chasrubal | Episode: "Joshua and the Battle of Jericho" |
1978 | The Bastard | Samuel Adams | TV movie |
1978 | Big Bob Johnson and His Fantastic Speed Circus | Lawrence Stepwell III | TV movie |
1978 | Sergeant Matlovich vs. the U.S. Air Force | Father Veller | TV movie |
1979 | Blind Ambition | G. Gordon Liddy | |
1979 | The Chinese Typewriter | Devlin | TV movie |
1979 | The Rebels | John Adams | TV movie |
1980 | The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo | Dr. Walter Taylor | Episode: "Who's the Sexiest Girl in the World" |
1980 | Galactica 1980 | Norman Blore | Episodes: The Night the Cylons Landed Part 1 & 2 |
1980 | City in Fear | Freeman Stirbling | TV movie |
1980 | Father Damien: The Leper Priest | Bishop Koeckemann | TV movie |
1980-1981 | Freebie and the Bean | District Attorney Walter W. Cruikshank | 4 episodes |
1981 | Trapper John, M.D. | Dr. Slater | Episode: "Second Sight" |
1981 | Private Benjamin | Teddy | Episode: "Bye, Bye Benjamin" |
1981 | The Million Dollar Face | Henry Burns | TV movie |
1982 | Hart to Hart | Simon Richardson | Episode: "Hartless Hobby" |
1982 | Rehearsal for Murder | Walter Lamb | TV movie |
1982 | Rooster | Dr. DeVega | TV movie |
1982 | Drop-Out Father | Draper Wright | TV movie |
1982-1986 | Knight Rider | KITT | Voice |
1982-1988 | St. Elsewhere | Dr. Mark Craig | 129 episodes |
1986 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Narrator | Episode: "The Princess Who Had Never Laughed" |
1987 | The Little Match Girl | Haywood Dutton | TV movie |
1989 | Howard Beach: Making a Case for Murder | Slaney | TV movie |
1990 | On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story | John Nicks | TV movie |
1991 | The General Motors Playwright Theatre | Detective Lieutenant Fine | Episode: "Clara" |
1991 | Knight Rider 2000 | KITT | TV movie; Voice |
1992 | Back to the Streets of San Francisco | Judge Julius Burns | TV movie |
1993 | Nurses | Mr. Kaplan | Episode: "Family Outing" |
1993-2000 | Boy Meets World | George Feeny | Main Cast |
1996 | The Lottery | Reverend Hutchinson | TV movie |
1996 2003 |
Touched by an Angel | Whit Russell George |
Episode: "Birthmarks" Episode: "And a Nightingale Song" |
1998 2004 |
The Simpsons | KITT | Episode: "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" (Voice) Episode: "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (Voice) |
2000 | Star Trek: Voyager | Hospital Ship 4-2, Allocation Alpha | Voice. Episode: "Critical Care" |
2002 | Scrubs | Dr. Douglas | Episode: "My Sacrificial Clam" |
2003 | Lost at Home | Arthur | Episode: "Our Town" |
2003 | The Lyon's Den | Judge Franklin Campbell | Episode: "Blood" |
2004 | The King of Queens | Philip Waldecott | Episode: "Icky Shuffle" |
2004 | Kim Possible | Robot Pilot | Voice. Episode "Ron Millionaire" |
2005 | The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | Scythe 2.0 | Voice. Episode: "Runaway Pants/Scythe 2.0" |
2006 | The Closer | Commissioner Andrew Schmidt | Episodes: "Serving the King Part 1 & 2" |
2008 | Boston Legal | Judge Milton Brody | Episode: "Smoke Signals" |
2012 | Paulilu Mixtape | Dr. Vanderhoof | Episode: "Ghost Tits" |
2012 | Grey's Anatomy | Dr. Craig Thomas | 5 episodes |
2014-2015 | Girl Meets World | George Feeny | Cameo, Episode: "Girl Meets World" (season 1) Recurring role (season 2) |