William David Daniels (born March 31, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor, best known nowadays for his role as schoolteacher George Feeny on Boy Meets World. He also played Dr. Mark Craig on St. Elsewhere and provided the voice of KITT in Knight Rider. His earliest claim to fame, however, was his role as irascible American revolutionary John Adams in the musical 1776, first on Broadway and then in the film adaptation. (The name of "John Adams High School" in Boy Meets World is a nod to this.)
He is easily recognized by his distinctive voice and no-nonsense personality, no matter what character he may be portraying.
Daniels met his wife, Bonnie Bartlett, when they were both freshmen at Northwestern University. They got married almost immediately after graduation, in June 1951, and have been together ever since, making them one of Hollywood's longest-lasting couples. They made Emmy Awards history in 1986, winning Best Actor and Best Actress for their work as Mark and Ellen Craig on St. Elsewhere and becoming only the second married couple to win acting awards on the same night. They also played married or romantically-involved characters on two other occasions; once as guest stars on Touched by an Angel, and again on Boy Meets World, when Bartlett joined the cast as Lila Bolander, Dean of Pennbrook College. The Feeny and Bolander characters began dating and married in the season 6 finale "State of the Unions".
He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1999–2001.
Works he's appeared in with TV Tropes pages:
- A Thousand Clowns (1965) as Albert Amundson
- The President's Analyst (1967) as Wynn Quantrill
- Two for the Road (1967) as Howard Manchester
- The Graduate (1967) as Mr. Braddock
- Marlowe (1969) as Mr. Crowell
- 1776 (1972) as John Adams
- A Case of Rape (1974) as Leonard Alexander
- The Parallax View (1974) as Austin Tucker
- Black Sunday (1977) as Harold Pugh
- Oh, God! (1977) as George Summers
- Sunburn (1979) as Crawford
- The Blue Lagoon (1980) as Arthur Lestrange
- Reds (1981) as Jules Gerber
- Rehearsal for Murder (1982) as Walter Lamb
- Blind Date (1987) as Judge Harold Bedford
- Her Alibi (1989) as Sam
- The Benchwarmers (2006) as KITT (voice)
- Blades of Glory (2007) as Commissioner Ebbers
- Captain Nice (1967) as Carter Nash/Captain Nice
- The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1 episode, 1968) as Blair Thompson
- Cannon (1 episode, 1972) as Dave Corley
- Love, American Style (1 episode, 1973) as Alan
- Ironside (1 episode, 1973) as Mr. Stillwald
- McCloud (2 episodes, 1973–76) as Fred Pearson/Clayton Gillis
- Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1 episode, 1974) as Police Lt. Jack Matteo
- Barbary Coast (1 episode, 1975) as Harry Boyle
- The Bob Newhart Show (1 episode, 1975) as Edgar T. Vickers Jr.
- McMillan & Wife (1 episode, 1976) as Commander Campbell
- The Rockford Files (2 episodes, 1976) as Thomas Caine/Gary Bevins
- Quincy, M.E. (3 episodes, 1976–80) as various
- The Incredible Hulk (1 episode, 1977) as Dr. John Bonifant
- Soap (1 episode, 1978) as Heinrich Himmel
- Family (1 episode, 1978) as Dr. Taylor
- Galactica 1980 (2 episodes, 1980) as Norman Blore
- Trapper John, M.D. (1 episode, 1981) as Dr. Slater
- Private Benjamin (1981) (1 episode, 1981) as Teddy
- Hart to Hart (1 episode, 1982) as Simon Richardson
- Knight Rider (1982–86) as KITT (voice)
- The Simpsons (2 episodes, 1998–2004)
- St. Elsewhere (1982–88) as Dr. Mark Craig
- Faerie Tale Theatre (1 episode, 1986) as Narrator (voice)
- Boy Meets World (1993–2000) as Mr. George Feeny
- Girl Meets World (2014–17)
- Touched by an Angel (1996–2003) as Whit Russell/George
- Star Trek: Voyager (1 episode, 2000) as Hospital Ship 4-2, Allocation Alpha (voice, uncredited)
- Scrubs (1 episode, 2002) as Dr. Douglas
- The King of Queens (1 episode, 2004) as Philip Waldecott
- Kim Possible (1 episode, 2004) as Robot Pilot (voice)
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (1 episode, 2005) as Scythe 2.0 (voice)
- The Closer (2 episodes, 2006) as Commissioner Andrew Schmidt
- Boston Legal (1 episode, 2008) as Judge Milton Brody
- Grey's Anatomy (5 episodes, 2012) as Dr. Craig Thomas
- LEGO Dimensions (2015) as KITT (voice)
Tropes in his work:
- American Accents: Though he's from Brooklyn, he trained himself to speak in a pitch-perfect mid-Atlantic accent, which became part of the reason for his Typecasting (see below).
- Role Reprise: Besides 1776, he portrayed John Adams in the 1979 miniseries The Rebels and voiced him in the 1994 documentary series The American Revolution. He also played Adams's son John Quincy Adams in the 1976 miniseries The Adams Chronicles and his cousin Samuel Adams in the 1978 TV movie The Bastard.
- Typecasting: For much of his career, he was the go-to actor if you needed an uptight WASP, particularly a Yankee.
