William Daniels | |
|---|---|
 Daniels in 1976 | |
| Born | William David Daniels (1927-03-31)March 31, 1927 (age 98) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1943–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| President of theScreen Actors Guild | |
| In office March 5, 1999 – October 15, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Masur |
| Succeeded by | Melissa Gilbert |
| Military career | |
| Branch | United States Army |
| Website | williamdanielstheactor |
William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927) is an American actor, known for his television roles, notably asMark Craig on the drama seriesSt. Elsewhere, for which he won twoPrimetime Emmy Awards, the voice ofKITT on the television seriesKnight Rider, andGeorge Feeny on the sitcomBoy Meets World, which earned him fourPeople's Choice Award nominations. He reprised hisKnight Rider role in the sequel TV movieKnight Rider 2000 and hisBoy Meets World role in the sequel seriesGirl Meets World. He also portrayed Carter Nash (the actual identity of the eponymous comedic superhero) inCaptain Nice.
Daniels's film roles include Mr. Braddock (Benjamin Braddock's father) inThe Graduate, Howard Maxwell-Manchester inTwo for the Road, andJohn Adams in the musical film1776. He was president of theScreen Actors Guild from 1999 to 2001 and led the union's efforts during the2000 commercial actors strike.
Daniels is also noted for having portrayed in film or on television the three most prominent members of theAdams political family:John Adams, his cousin and fellow founding father,Samuel Adams, and John Adams's sonJohn Quincy Adams.
William David Daniels was born on March 31, 1927, inBrooklyn, New York,[1] to Irene and David Daniels. His father was a bricklayer, and his mother was a telephone operator.[2] He has two sisters, Jacqueline and Carol.[3] He grew up inEast New York, Brooklyn.[4]
Daniels was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1945 and stationed in Italy, where he served as adisc jockey at an Army radio station. At the suggestion ofHoward Lindsay, co-author ofLife with Father, who recommended he use theGI Bill to attend a college with a good drama department, Daniels enrolled atNorthwestern University.[5] He graduated from Northwestern in 1949, and is a member ofSigma Nu fraternity.[6]
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Daniels began his career as a member of the singing Daniels family in Brooklyn. 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.[7] He made his Broadway debut in 1943 inLife with Father,[8] and remained a busy Broadway actor for decades afterwards. His Broadway credits include roles in1776,A Thousand Clowns,On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, andA Little Night Music. He received anObie Award forThe Zoo Story (1960).
Daniels's motion picture debut was as a school principal in the 1963 anti-war drama filmLadybug Ladybug. In 1965, he reprised his Broadway role as a child welfare worker in the screen version ofA Thousand Clowns. In 1967 he appeared inThe Graduate as the father ofDustin Hoffman's character. In 1969, Daniels starred asJohn Adams in the Broadway musical1776; he also appeared in thefilm version in 1972. Two years later, he co-starred inRichard Donner's telefilmSarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic.[9] in 1978 and 1979 he again reprised his role as the outspoken John Adams in the filmsThe Bastard andThe Rebels, again about the American revolution, without seeming to ever break character. He is known as the quintessential John Adams.
Daniels's first network television appearance came in 1952 when he portrayed the youngJohn Quincy Adams, eldest son of John and Abigail Adams in theHallmark Hall of Fame dramaA Woman for the Ages. In 1976, he reprised the role as the middle-aged and elder John Quincy Adams in the acclaimedPBS miniseriesThe Adams Chronicles. He starred in the short-lived seriesCaptain Nice as police chemist Carter Nash. He appeared as acid-tongued Dr. Mark Craig inSt. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988, for which he won two Emmy awards. Concurrently, he provided the voice ofKITT inKnight Rider from 1982 to 1986. Daniels said in 1982, "My duties onKnight 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."[7]
Daniels reprised the voice-only role of KITT in 1991 for the television movieKnight Rider 2000, and again in the theatrical comedy movieThe Benchwarmers. He performed the role inAT&T andGE commercials about talking machines, and twice inThe Simpsons as well as at theComedy Central Roast of his co-star David Hasselhoff.[10] He reprised the role of KITT in the 2015 Lego-themed action-adventure video gameLego Dimensions.[citation needed]
Daniels portrayed strict but loving educatorGeorge Feeny at John Adams High School inBoy Meets World from 1993 to 2000. In addition to the previously mentioned 1967 superhero sitcomCaptain Nice, he was a regular on the 1970s TV seriesFreebie and the Bean andThe Nancy Walker Show.[citation needed]
A familiar character actor, he has appeared as a guest star on numerous TV comedies and dramas, includingSoap,The Rockford Files,Quincy, M.E.,Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and many others. In 2012, Daniels appeared in the ninth season ofGrey's Anatomy as Dr. Craig Thomas, an unlikely mentor to the character of Dr.Cristina Yang played by actressSandra 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.[citation needed]
In 2014, Daniels reprised his role as Mr. Feeny in the pilot episode of theBoy Meets World spinoff,Girl Meets World. He cameoed in the final scene, praising the adult Cory Matthews for his parenting.[11] He made additional appearances in the second[12] and third seasons.[13]
In early 2023, he completed filming of the role of King Henry VI in the upcoming "Richard III".[14]
On October 14, 2025, at 98 years old, he appeared as a surprise guest onDancing with the Stars.[15]
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Daniels has been married to actress and fellow Emmy Award winnerBonnie Bartlett since June 30, 1951; at 74 years, it is thelongest active Hollywood marriage as of January 2026. In 1961, Bartlett gave birth to a son,who died 24 hours later. They adopted two sons. They also have four grandchildren, two through their son Michael, and another two through their other son Robert.[16][17]
Bartlett and Daniels both served on theScreen Actors Guild's board of directors.[18]
Daniels refused the 1969 Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor in a Musical in1776 due to his insistence that the part of John Adams was a leading role rather than supporting.[19] 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.[20]
From1983 to 1987, Daniels' work onSt. Elsewhere earned him five consecutive nominations for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1985 and 1986. In 1986, Daniels and Bartlett, who played his fictional wife onSt. Elsewhere, won Emmy Awards on the same night (Bartlett forSupporting Actress in a Drama Series), becoming the first married couple to accomplish the feat sinceAlfred Lunt andLynn Fontanne in 1965 for a production ofThe Magnificent Yankee for theHallmark Hall of Fame.[21]
| 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 | Harold Pugh | |
| Oh, God! | George Summers | ||
| 1978 | The One and Only | Mr. Crawford | |
| 1979 | Sunburn | Crawford | |
| The Rebels | John Adams | ||
| 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, uncredited |
| 2007 | Blades of Glory | Commissioner Ebbers | |
| 2020 | Superintelligence | KITT | Voice |
| 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 | Main cast; 15 episodes |
| 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 | Main cast; 13 episodes |
| 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 |
| 1977 | The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer | Colonel Marcus Reno | 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 | Recurring role; 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 role; 84 episodes |
| 1982–1988 | St. Elsewhere | Dr. Mark Craig | Main cast; 137 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 | General Motors Playwright Theater | 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 | Norm Kaplan | Episode: "Family Outing" |
| 1993–2000 | Boy Meets World | George Feeny | Main cast; 148 episodes |
| 1994 | The American Revolution | John Adams | Documentary[22] Voice |
| 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 | Voice Episode: "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" Episode: "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" |
| 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 | 6 episodes |
| 2014–2017 | Girl Meets World | George Feeny | Recurring role; 5 episodes |
| 2025 | Dancing With The Stars -Season 34 | Himself (Danielle Fishel Special Guest) | Episode 5: Dedication Night |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Lego Dimensions | K.I.T.T | Voice |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Life With Father | Clarence | Bijou Theatre | Replacement |
| 1952 | Seagulls Over Sorrento | Sub-Lt. Granger, R.N. | John Golden Theatre | Credited as Bill Daniels |
| 1959 | The Legend of Lizzie | Assistant D. A. Cooper | 54th Street Theatre | |
| 1962 | A Thousand Clowns | Albert Amundson | Eugene O'Neill Theatre | |
| 1963 | Dear Me, The Sky is Falling | Dr. Robert Evans | Music Box Theatre | |
| 1963 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Dale Harding | Cort Theatre | |
| 1965 | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever | Warren Smith | Mark Hellinger Theatre | |
| 1966 | The Office | performer | Henry Miller's Theatre | Closed during previews[23] |
| 1967 | Daphne in Cottage D | Joseph | Longacre Theatre | |
| 1969 | 1776 | John Adams | 46th Street Theater | |
| 1974 | A Little Night Music | Fredrik Egerman | Shubert Theatre | Replacement |
Source:[24]
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | The Zoo Story | Peter | Provincetown Playhouse, Off-Broadway | [25] | |
| 1960 | The Alligators | Bolo | York Playhouse, Off-Broadway | [26] | |
| 1972 | 1776 | John Adams | Starlight Musicals, Indianapolis | [27] | |
| 1972 | 1776 | John Adams | The Muny, St. Louis | [28] |
