William Daniels

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Image:Wikitext.svg

This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (December 2007)

William Daniels
Image:William Daniels.jpg Daniels at the Emmy Awards, September 20, 1987. Photo by Alan Light.
Born	March 31 1927 (1927-03-31) (age 82) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Awards Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series 1985 & 1986 St. Elsewhere

William Daniels (born March 31, 1927) is an American actor whose distinctive, nasal voice and penchant for portraying critical yet competent characters has landed him a number of roles over the years. In effect, he has made a career out of playing characters who somehow remain sympathetic despite being "obnoxious and disliked" (as his character John Adams was repeatedly described in 1776) from the other characters' point of view.

Daniels was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1949. He has been married to actress and fellow Emmy Award-winner Bonnie Bartlett since June 30, 1951. They have two children.

He also served as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 1999 to 2001.

[edit] Best Known Roles

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. In 1976, Daniels portrayed eldest son 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 – 1986, and again in 1991 (He requested not to be credited for that work). He appeared as acid-tongued (but well-meaning) Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere from 1982 – 1988 (for which he won an Emmy twice). Daniels then portrayed the teacher George Feeny in Boy Meets World from 1993 – 2000.

[edit] Other roles

• 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).
• His motion picture debut was as a school principal in the 1963 anti-war drama Ladybug Ladybug.
• The father of the character Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate in 1967, despite being only ten years older than Hoffman.
• An officious social worker who tries to strip the protagonist of the custody of his nephew in A Thousand Clowns (1965).
• A physician named John Bonifant in Death In the Family, the second made-for-TV movie of the 1970s Incredible Hulk TV series.
• Several episodes of the 1977 show, Soap, as a German Private Investigator.
• 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.
• 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)

[edit] External links

• William Daniels at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Richard Masur

President of Screen Actors Guild 1999 – 2001

Succeeded by Melissa Gilbert

fr:William Daniels

pl:William Daniels (aktor) pt:William Daniels fi:William Daniels sv:William Daniels