Daniels, William (b. 1927), character actor. The loud, strident supporting player was born in Brooklyn, educated at Northwestern, and trained with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio before making his New York debut in 1943 as one of the sons in Life with Father. Daniels was involved with important productions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, such as a replacement for the bitter Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger (1958) and originating the role of Peter in the first American production of The Zoo Story (1960). He also shone as the narrow‐minded social worker Albert in A Thousand Clowns (1962), the over‐practical fiancé Warren in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965), and most memorably as the quarrelsome delegate John Adams in 1776 (1969).
William Daniels
| American Theater Guide: William Daniels |
| Artist: William Daniels |
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- Genres: Soundtrack
- Instrument: Vocals, Performer
Biography
On recordings, the American actor William Daniels can be heard on original soundtracks such as the historical 1776 and the visionary On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. He has little chance of being confused with singer Billy Daniels, he of "That Old Black Magic," but the two Daniels come from similar dens of courage in terms of hardworking show business traditions. William Daniels has been performing since the age of six, when he would join his sister for a song-and-dance act. There was also the Daniels Family, comprising an additional sibling. Billy Daniels claimed to have sang for 12 sponsors a day, 365 days a year, but the Daniels Family were hardly slouches either during a period when the group took on three radio shows each week.In 1945 William Daniels was noticed in the play Life With Father, but quite a few years followed until he scored an attention-getting role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams. In 1960 Daniels won several awards for his part in the Edward Albee play The Zoo Story. On screen, Daniels might be best remembered for the 1967 turn as Dustin Hoffman's father in The Graduate. He played John Adams in both the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and the 1972 film version. In the '80s he appeared in the television soap opera St. Elsewhere while simultaneously providing the voice of an automobile on the fantasy series Knight Rider. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
| Actor: William Daniels |
- Born: Mar 31, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
- Occupation: Actor
- Active: '60s-'90s
- Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
- Career Highlights: The Graduate, A Thousand Clowns, Two for the Road
- First Major Screen Credit: Family Honeymoon (1948)
Biography
American actor William Daniels was teamed at age 6 with his sister Jackie in a song-and-dance act that would become "The Daniels Family" when his other sister Carol joined. At the height of their activity, the Daniels were performing in as many as three radio shows per week, a welcome break from the harshness of their Brooklyn neighborhood. Acting in the long-running Broadway play Life with Father in 1945, Daniels was advised by the play's star and co-author Howard Lindsey to attend college just in case the acting business fell apart; after Army service and graduation from Northwestern University, Daniels found that, for him, the business had fallen apart. His confidence eroded by several years of relative inactivity, Daniels nearly turned down an opportunity to play Brick in a road company production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but the play's author Tennessee Williams insisted upon casting Daniels. In 1960, the actor was cast with George Maharis in the Edward Albee play The Zoo Story, which won him the Obie and Clarence Derwent Awards and led to such choice Broadway assignments as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and A Thousand Clowns. Much to his own amazement, Daniels found himself cast in a superhero-spoof sitcom, Captain Nice, in 1967, which fortunately wasn't on long enough to typecast him. The actor achieved recognition of a more positive nature for his role as Dustin Hoffman's obtuse father in The Graduate (1967) (he was all of ten years older than Hoffman). Daniels' role as John Adams in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 resulted in another strong film showing when the play was transferred to celluloid in 1972. Reportedly as reserved and taciturn as his screen characters in real life, Daniels was perhaps ideally cast as the abrasive Dr. Mark Craig on the long-running (1982-88) TV drama St. Elsewhere; appearing as Mrs. Craig was Bonnie Bartlett, to whom Daniels had been married since college. Despite his high visibility in both films and television, William Daniels is probably best known internationally for a continuing TV role in which he was never seen--the ever-correct computerized voice of K.I.T.T., the superpowered automobile on the action series Knight Rider (1982-86). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide| Filmography: William Daniels |
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| Wikipedia: William Daniels |
| William Daniels | |
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 at the Emmy Awards, September 20, 1987 |
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| Born | William David Daniels March 31, 1927 Brooklyn, New York, United States |
William David Daniels[1] (born March 31, 1927) is an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild (1999 to 2001). He is known for his performances as John Adams in 1776, as Mr. Feeny in ABC's Boy Meets World, the voice of KITT in Knight Rider, and winning two Emmy Awards for the role of Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere.
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Early life
Daniels was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Irene and David Daniels, a builder.[1] 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. They have two children.
Career
His motion picture debut was as a school principal in the 1963 anti-war drama Ladybug Ladybug. In 1967 he starred in The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman, and Anne Bancroft. In 1969, Daniels starred as John Adams in the musical 1776, as well as appearing in the movie 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 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 provided the voice of KITT in Knight Rider from 1982 to 1986, again in 1991 (he requested not to be credited for that work), again in the movie The Benchwarmers, and twice in The Simpsons.[2] 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. Daniels then portrayed teacher George Feeny at John Adams High School in Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000.
Daniels had a successful career as a stage actor; besides 1776, his Broadway credits include On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and A Little Night Music. He earned an Obie Award for The Zoo Story (1960). He has also appeared in several other films.
He put in a memorable appearance in one episode of Soap as Heinrich Himmel, a German private investigator hired to investigate the murder of Peter Campbell. Benson decided to pick him up and sit him on their dessert.
Awards
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 series.
Northwestern University's annual William Daniels Awards (the "Willies") honors the top performers, directors, choreographers, etc. in campus theatre productions throughout the year.
Filmography
- The father of the character Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate in 1967, despite being only ten years older than Hoffman.
- Albert Amundsen, an officious social worker who tries to strip the protagonist of the custody of his nephew in A Thousand Clowns (1965).
- Captain Nice, a comedy TV series that ran from January-May 1967 on NBC. Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved police chemist Carter Nash, a mild-mannered mama's boy who discovered a secret formula that, when taken, transformed him into Captain Nice.
- A physician named John Bonifant in Death In the Family, the second made-for-TV movie of the 1970s Incredible Hulk TV series.
- The voice of KITT in Knight Rider.
- Played Austin Tucker in the 1974 film The Parallax View, across from Warren Beatty.
- Played New York Socialist leader Julius Gerber in Warren Beatty's 1981 historical drama, Reds.
- An episode of The Rockford Files as high-handed District Attorney Gary Bevins, who conducts a grand-jury hearing at which Jim Rockford is subpoenaed to testify.
- Norman, a radio executive attending a Halloween party with coworkers; he appears dressed as a clown for the party, and unwittingly picks up Cylon hitchhikers in the Galactica 1980, episode "The Night the Cylons Landed".
- The voice of Scythe 2.0. in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, episode "Scythe 2.0.".
- The voice of a robot in an episode of Kim Possible.
- Judge Harold Bedford in the 1987 movie Blind Date, with Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger.
- Guest starred in an episode of Scrubs. His appearance involved three other cast members from St. Elsewhere; they played hospitalized doctors.
- Howard Manchester in 1967's Two for the Road.
- George Summers in the 1977 Carl Reiner film Oh, God!.
- Arthur Spooner's nemesis, Philip Waldecott in The King Of Queens.
- The un-named judge in the 2007 movie Code Name: The Cleaner.
- He played a skating commissioner in Blades of Glory.
- A part in The Closer.
- A part in the TV series Quincy, M.E.
- The father of Richard Lestrange in The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)
- An average American suburban father in The President's Analyst
- A card-player coming over to the house of Uncle Bob (Magic Kid 2)
- Mr. George Feeny, Principal and neighbor on Boy Meets World
- Judge Milton Brody, during the fifth season of Boston Legal
References
External links
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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 | American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- William Daniels (Jazz Artist, '50s-'80s)
- William Daniels (Rap Artist, '90s, 2000s)
- Friendly Persuasion: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1998 Comedy TV Episode)
- Pilot, Part 2: Knight Rider (TV Episode) (1982 Action TV Episode)
- Santa's Little Helper: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1993 Comedy TV Episode)
- The Father/Son Game: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1993 Comedy TV Episode)
- The B-Team of Life: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1994 Comedy TV Episode)
- I Dream of Feeny: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1994 Comedy TV Episode)
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- I Am Not a Crook: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1995 Comedy TV Episode)
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- Janitor Dad: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1996 Comedy TV Episode)
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- Last Tango in Philly: Boy Meets World (TV Episode) (1997 Comedy TV Episode)
