William Daniels

For other people named William Daniels, see William Daniels (disambiguation). This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (January 2010) William Daniels , Daniels at the Emmy Awards, September 20, 1987 Born William David Daniels, (1927-03-31) March 31, 1927 (age 85), Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Alma mater Northwestern University Occupation Film, television, stage actor Years active 1950 - present Spouse(s) Bonnie Bartlett (1951-present); 2 children Awards Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (1985, 1986) 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 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, as the voice of KITT in Knight Rider, and as Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere, for which he won two Emmy Awards. Early life: William Daniels was born in Brooklyn, New York to Irene and David Daniels, although he has spoken with a Boston accent 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. He has been married to actress and fellow Emmy Award-winner Bonnie Bartlett since June 30, 1951; the couple has two children. Career: 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' 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' 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 appeared as acid-tongued (but well-meaning) Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988, for which he won two Emmy awards. Almost simultaneously, 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." Daniels requested that he not receive on screen credit for the role. He reprised the voice-only role of KITT in 1991 for the television movie Knight Rider 2000, again in the movie The Benchwarmers, yet again 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. Daniels then portrayed teacher (later principal) George Feeny at John Adams High School in Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000. Daniels also starred in the 1967 superhero sitcom Captain Nice, and 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 midway through the season, which forced Yang to move back to Seattle. Awards/honors: 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., In 1986, both Daniels and his wife Bonnie Bartlett, who also 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., Northwestern University's annual William Daniels Awards honor the top performers, directors, choreographers, etc. in campus theater productions throughout the year., Selected notable roles: Played Mr. Feeny, a world history teacher, on Boy Meets World (TV Series), Played Fred Pearson, an efficiency expert, in an episode of McCloud ("The Day New York Turned Blue")., Father of Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967); the actors are a decade apart in age., John Adams in both the Broadway and film version of 1776., Played agent to Gayle Hunnicutt's character in Marlowe (1969)., Played G. Gordon Liddy in the 1979 TV adaptation of John Dean's book Blind Ambition., Albert Amundsen, an officious social worker who tries to strip the protagonist of the custody of his nephew in A Thousand Clowns (1965)., The voice of KITT in Knight Rider., Played Theatre producer Walter Lamb in the 1982 whodunnit Rehearsal for Murder, opposite Robert Preston and Lynn Redgrave., Played Austin Tucker in the 1974 film The Parallax View, in which he is killed in a political assassination conspiracy., Played Police Lt. Jack Matteo in Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode 'The Vampire', opposite Darren McGavin's Carl Kolchak, Played New York Socialist leader Julius Gerber in Warren Beatty's Reds (1981)., Played Reverend Hutchinson in the 1996 film adaptation of Shirley Jackson' The Lottery, Played Judge Harold Bedford in the 1987 film Blind Date., Guest starred in an episode of Scrubs. His appearance involved three other cast members from St. Elsewhere; they played hospitalized doctors., Played Howard Manchester in 1967's Two for the Road.

Source: Wikipedia

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